How does the human presence impact a mission to a Near Earth Asteroid?

The paper deals with the major impacts that the human presence has on an exploration mission to a Near Earth Asteroid. This topic was addressed in the framework of the fifth edition of the postgraduate SEEDS Master course, which aimed at the preliminary design of a human exploration mission to a NEA, called AENEA. A mission to an asteroid may be seen as an intermediate step before going to further destination such as Mars, since it offers the possibility to test several capabilities, both in terms of technologies and human aspects, required to reach further targets. The target of AENEA mission is the 1999 RA32 asteroid. The mission has an overall duration of about 6 months and the maximum distance between Earth and the spacecraft reached during the travel is about 0.2 AU. Many benefits would derive by the presence of humans in such kind of mission, with respect to having only robotics. As a matter of fact, the asteroid is a harsh and not known environment and the flexibility and capabilities of humans would be necessary to eventually face in an easier and more efficient way not expected situations, and avoid the risk of compromising the entire mission. Of course, a human mission is usually more complex, and consequently more costly, than a robotic one due to several issues that must be accounted for, as for example the effects of the long exposure to space radiations or to microgravity. Moreover, the long duration and the far distance from Earth make AENEA a very challenging mission even from a psychological point of view. Particular attention was devoted to this aspect in designing the mission, both in terms of systems and operations. The paper highlights the advantages of having humans in this kind of exploration mission, describing the major implications it has on the design of the entire mission. Furthermore, the importance of a having a complementary contribution of both robotics and human capabilities for such kind of mission robotic contribution is underlined.