National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA’s FY2014 Asteroid Strategy

An Integrated Strategy in Support of Human Exploration

And Protection of the Planet

April 10, 2013
Asteroid Strategy

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The President announced in April 2010 a human 

mission to an asteroid. The budget leverages NASA’s 

human and robotic activities for the mission and also 

accelerates efforts to address potentially hazardous 

asteroids:

• To protect our planet

• To advance exploration capabilities and 

technologies for human space flight

• To learn how to best utilize space resources.

The FY14 budget aligns relevant portions of NASA’s 

science, space technology, and human exploration 

capabilities to plan for the mission.

NASA will build on a rich history of engaging citizen 

scientists, researchers and individual innovators in 

this quest.
Mission Concept

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• Capture and redirect a 7-10 

meter diameter, ~500 ton nearEarth asteroid (NEA) to a stable 

orbit in trans-lunar space

• Enable astronaut missions to 

the asteroid as early as 2021

• Parallel and forward-leaning 

development approach
Asteroid Mission Would Consist 

of Three Main Segments

Asteroid 

Identification 

Segment:

Ground and 

space based NEA 

target detection, 

characterization 

and selection

Identify

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Asteroid Crewed 

Exploration 

Segment:

 

Orion and SLS 

based crewed 

rendezvous and 

sampling mission 

to the relocated 

asteroid 

Explore

Asteroid 

Redirection 

Segment: 

Solar electric 

propulsion (SEP) 

based asteroid 

capture and 

maneuver to 

trans-lunar space

Redirect

Notional
2013 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022

Alignment Strategy

Asteroid 

Redirection

Segment

2016 2020

Asteroid 

Rendezvous

& Capture

Mission 

Launch & 

SEP Demo

Asteroid 

Maneuver 

to translunar

Asteroid 

Detection, 

Characterization 

& Selection

Segment

Orion & SLS 

Crewed Asteroid 

Exploration

Segment

First flight of 

Orion

EM-1: Un-crewed 

Orion test 

beyond 

the Moon

EM-2: Crew 

on Orion to 

the asteroid

Enhanced ground assets 

& Initial candidates

GEO-hosted 

payload 

detection

Final 

target 

selection

SST PS-2

5

THIS SEGMENT TIMELINE

NOTIONAL- SUBJECT TO 

CHANGE AS MISSION 

CONCEPT EVOLVES
Approach to Accelerate

Target Detection and Characterization

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• Need to identify targets that meet

• Trajectory

• Size

• Spin rate

• Composition

• Asteroid Target Detection Options 

• Utilization of ground telescopes such as Palomar and 

Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response 

System-2

• Enhanced robotic ground and space-based 

observations

• NASA’s existing Near Earth Object Observation 

program is exploring ways to improve detection 

and characterization efforts

• Will develop options and recommend specific actions 

to augment current capabilities by April 2013

• Some new targets could be identified via this process

• The FY2014 investment will enable us to 

accelerate the rate of discovery of candidate 

asteroids
Synergy with STMD Technology

Demonstration Mission

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ISS 

Utilization

Payload 

Delivery

Satellite

Servicing

Space 

Situational 

Awareness

Robotic

Science 

Missions

Orbital 

Debris 

Removal Space 

Environment

s Mapping

Human 

Exploration

• STMD is planning an 

affordable demonstration 

of high-power (~30-50 

kW), light-weight solar 

arrays and Solar Electric

Propulsion (SEP)

• A SEP Technology 

Demonstration Mission 

(TDM) that will be 

integrated into an Asteroid 

Retrieval Mission to 

validate:

• New solar array

capability

• High-power electronics 

and thruster engines

• Integrated high power 

SEP system

• Asteroid transportation 
Asteroid Capture Concept

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• Approach for rendezvous and capture 

with a non-cooperative space object

• Most technically challenging aspect of 

the mission

• Leverage existing work

• OSIRIS-REx

• Satellite servicing

• Engage community for best ideas
FY2013 Planning Activities

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• NASA has begun study activities led by two teams

– Concept definition study for asteroid identification and redirect segments

– Concept definition study for crew rendezvous and sampling segment

• Mission Concept Review in late summer of 2013

– Provides an assessment of the technical and programmatic feasibility to factor 

into the FY2015 budget submit

– Address key management principles with the goal of keeping additional out 

year levels low by :

• Lean and agile project management approach

• Development of minimum success criteria

• Continued leveraging existing efforts and resources

• A plan to address and prioritize the efforts above will be 

established in 2013.
FY2014 Major Activities

• Science Mission Directorate’s Planetary Science Program plans to:

– Implement systematic focus on candidate targets using ground assets

– Begin study of space-based observation platform

• Space Technology Mission Directorate plans to:

– Accelerate the development of a demonstration of a high-power solar electric 

propulsion system

• Begin the design and test of a large-scale solar electric array leveraging investment in 

ground demonstration of large arrays that was initiated in FY2012

• Design and build engineering units of the high-power electronics and thruster engines

• Design large-quantity propellant tank

– Engage academic and industry for ideas and concepts regarding capture, 

characterization, sampling, and resource utilization

• HEOMD’s Advanced Exploration Systems plans to:

– Begin development of an asteroid capture mechanism

– Investigate spacecraft control algorithms for capturing and redirecting an 

asteroid

– Demonstrate concepts for astronaut extravehicular activity on the asteroid's 

surface. 

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Summary

• NASA’s asteroid strategy aligns relevant portions of NASA’s science, 

space technology, and human exploration capabilities for a human 

mission, advanced technology development, efforts to protect the 

planet, and engages new industrial capability and partnerships

• Leverages existing NASA efforts

– Asteroid Identification and Characterization efforts for target selection

– Solar Electric Propulsion for transport to and return of the target asteroid

– Robotic servicing techniques for capture

– SLS and MPCV missions for asteroid rendezvous

• Benefits future exploration objectives for carrying humans further into 

space than ever before

– Deep space navigation and rendezvous to enable crewed operations in deep space

– High power solar electric propulsion to enable efficient transportation to deep space 

destinations

– In space robotics for capture/control of uncooperative objects

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Meeting the President’s goal of sending humans to 

an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s