WASHINGTON Astronaut Thomas Jones already has three shuttle trips under his space helmet and is training for a spacewalk on the International Space Station (ISS) next year.
But this commuter of the cosmos has his eyes set on another destination. Why not kick up a little dust on an asteroid?
"By sending humans to an asteroid, not only can researchers do some geological prospecting on the scene but its a great way to prepare yourself and hardware for leaving on an interplanetary voyage," Jones told SPACE.com.
To boldly go where only robots have ventured -- and those spacecraft only have circled, not landed -- would be no cakewalk for a human.
Asteroids are odd-shaped mini-planets, sort of low-gravity rock gardens with craggy craters, rolling hills and deep valleys. New pictures of asteroid Eros from the
"I think its going to be more like mountaineering on a rock face," Jones said. "Youll have to piton in every so often to avoid falling off. Either that or give everybody a [jet-powered] maneuvering backpack so you can move at will. Building your own little spider web over the work site might be required. No doubt, its going to be a very challenging environment."
Adding to the problem: There's bound to be a lot of dust stirred up when exploring an asteroid.
"That wont settle back very quickly. So equipment will have to withstand that kind of dusty cloud that youll be working in most of the time," Jones said.
He foresees visits to a number of asteroids to learn more about their differences in physical strength and makeup. What's more, there are whole classes of asteroids yet to be discovered -- just the sort of challenge that excites Jones.
Jones, 45, a native of Baltimore, earned his doctorate in planetary sciences from the University of Arizona and flew for six years with the Air Force before becoming an astronaut in 1991. A Civil War buff, he enjoys baseball, hiking and biking in his spare time.
As a scientist, he loves to research the possibility of finding water in "Main belt" asteroids that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
Missions to asteroids would be scientifically useful, especially if one of the space rocks were on a collision course with Earth. But getting to know the asteroids also offers great economic promise: they are loaded with precious minerals.
"I think the long-term reason for exploring asteroids is to exploit them," Jones said. He's as interested as the next astronaut in going to Mars, but "at the same time that you are pursuing planetary exploration, you ought to be thinking about the economics of using space to your best advantage."
Setting up an economic base in space with robotic mining camps on asteroids is quite feasible, Jones believes. Water-bearing asteroids are already known to be high-class real estate. Robotic probes could visit these types of space rocks, siphon water from them and transport it to other spacecraft closer to Earth.
"That water is going to be an invaluable resource," Jones said, not only to support humans but because its chemical elements -- hydrogen and oxygen -- can be used to make rocket fuel.
It could take six months to a year for a robot probe to make a round-trip journey to an asteroid.
"It would be great practice for operating on another planetary body. Its great preparation for fieldwork on Mars or extended work on the moon. Asteroids are almost tailor-made for being stepping stones," he said.
As Jones see it, it makes sense from an astronauts point of view to build up your approach to a Mars expedition. Any flight to an asteroid would build humans' confidence in space hardware and provide valuable experience in communicating over long distances.
Honing the skills of astronaut teams for on-the-spot decision-making far from Earth is critical to long haul missions.
Do other astronauts see Jones as odd?
"No. Many of my colleagues would be happy to go to an asteroid. But I believe most of them think that the best chances still remain going back to the moon and going on to Mars. They might view asteroids as sort of a sidelight or diversion."
For now, mission controllers and astronauts are much more comfortable with shaking out hardware at reasonable ranges from Earth before embarking on a three-year round trip to Mars.
"Im not viewed as a guy whos gone off on a tangent," Jones said.
But in truth, thats exactly where he wants to head.
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