Lockheed Martin says its “Plymouth Rock” mission proposal would reach a Near Earth Asteroid with astronauts using two Orion capsules and a dual-launch strategy as early as 2016—or nearly a decade ahead of the asteroid goal outlined by President Barack Obama in April.
Josh Hopkins, principal investigator at Lockheed Martin for advanced human exploration missions, will present the proposal, Plymouth Rock: Early Human Mission to Asteroids Using Orion Spacecraft, to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 2010 Conference & Exposition in Anaheim, Calif., on Aug. 30.
To read the rest of the article, click here.