Human Mission to an Asteroid: Asteroid Field Testing

By Nancy Atkinson - August 30, 2011 at 6:05 PM UTC | Space Exploration

How will we work and set up a base camp on an asteroid? NASA is currently doing some field work to test technologies that could be used on future human missions to asteroids. The Desert Research And Technology Studies (D-R.A.T.S) crew is back in action, testing communication scenarios for near-Earth asteroids, and 2 new instruments from Goddard Spaceflight Center, the ExPED and VAPoR. The video shows more info.

The crew will be doing live webcasts the next few days. You can watch below, or

at this link.

Times of the webcast vary, so watch the side chat window for updates.

Stream videos at Ustream

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com