Special training exercises have taken place underwater in preparation for a manned asteroid mission.
NASA's Extreme Environment Mission Operations Program has been conducting expeditions to the ocean floor lasting several days to help simulate various aspects of a manned mission to an asteroid. During the expedition the team lived in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aquarius Underwater Laboratory around 60 feet down at the Florida Keys. The latest expedition focused on determining the most effective ways to fasten to a space rock and how to deal with communication delays.
NASA is hoping to launch a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025, if it all goes well then a mission to Mars might also follow in the 2030s.
"Four "aquanauts" returned to dry land today (June 22), after spending 12 days living on the ocean floor off the Florida coast as part of a NASA-led mock mission to an asteroid."
View: Full article | Source: Live Science
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