Question

Which statements explain what will happen during the Asteroid Redirect Mission? Check all that apply.

The Orion crew will travel to and land on an asteroid.
A boulder will be brought to Earth for further study.
Samples from the boulder will be collected in space.
A robotic spacecraft will collect a boulder from an asteroid.
The boulder’s size will change as it moves near the asteroid.
The Orion crew will do space walks to investigate the boulder.

Answer 1

Correct answers:
- A robotic spacecraft will collect a boulder from an asteroid. (True)
- Samples from the boulder will be collected in space. (True)
- The Orion crew will do space walks to investigate the boulder. (True)

Why the others are incorrect:
- The Orion crew will travel to and land on an asteroid. (False — crew will rendezvous with the redirected boulder in lunar orbit; they will not land on the original asteroid.)
- A boulder will be brought to Earth for further study. (False — the boulder is redirected into a stable lunar orbit; crew will collect samples there and return samples to Earth, but the whole boulder is not brought to Earth.)
- The boulder’s size will change as it moves near the asteroid. (False — changing the boulder’s physical size is not part of the mission.)