Comet Hitchhiker Would Take Tour of Small Bodies

[Rick]

Comet Hitchhiker Would Take Tour of Small Bodies

Catching a ride from one solar system body to another isn't easy. You have to figure out how to land your spacecraft safely and then get it on its way to the next destination. The landing part is especially tricky for asteroids and comets, which have low gravitational pull.

A concept called Comet Hitchhiker, developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, puts forth a new way to get into orbit and land on comets and asteroids, using the kinetic energy -- the energy of motion -- of these small bodies. Masahiro Ono, the principal investigator based at JPL, had "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in mind when dreaming up the idea.

"Hitchhiking a celestial body is not as simple as sticking out your thumb, because it flies at an astronomical speed and it won't stop to pick you up. Instead of a thumb, our idea is to use a harpoon and a tether," Ono said.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4707

[ApophisAstros]

Obviously you would n't want it to get pulled into a distant sun , though.
Roger