NASA Mulls Plan to Drag Asteroid Into Moon's Orbit

Lately it seems like every month NASA announces a new bold plan for some exploration or other which requires convoluted reasoning to explain why they choose the complex, expensive way to do things rather than the direct, inexpensive way.

From the article: One proposed target, chosen because of its scientific value and favourable launch windows for a rendezvous, is a space rock called 1999 AO10. The mission would take about half a year, exposing astronauts to long-term radiation beyond Earth's protective magnetic field and taking them beyond the reach of any possible rescue.

Robotically bringing an asteroid to the moon instead would be a more attractive first step, the Keck researchers conclude, because an object orbiting the moon would be in easier reach of robotic probes and maybe even humans.

In fact, there is no reason to think 1999 AO₁₀ is anything but another chunk of rock. The only 'interesting' thing about it is it's orbit.

The first step should be to send a robotic probe to see if it is anything other than a chunk of rock, or whether there are some minerals there worth further study. Then consider the rest of the plan.

Or better still, leave the exploration up to these guys: http://www.space.com/15395-asteroid-mining-planetary-resources.html