Expedition to Eros

Then there was Eros, the cigar-shaped planetoid that swung end over end in an orbit beyond that of Mars, and on, and in which Wilma and I found things that staggered and shattered our imaginations. --From The Collected Works of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

As more and more science fiction becomes science fact, the exploits of Buck Rogers seem less and less fanciful. Reviving an old idea, two University of California scientists have now proposed that astronauts follow in the footsteps of Buck and Wilma. Man's next target in space, Hannes Alfven and Gustaf Arrhenius argue in Science, should be one of the tens of thousands of asteroids --or planetoids, as Buck called them --that circle the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroids, most of them only a few miles in diameter, were once thought to be the debris of a planet that mysteriously broke up. Now scientists are more inclined to believe that they are pre-planetary building blocks that could not develop into a planet because of the powerful gravitational influence of nearby Jupiter. They are also too small to have experienced the geological activity that has obliterated traces of early events on the earth and other planets. Thus, the two scientists suggest, an expedition to an asteroid might yield important clues to the primordial history of the solar system.

Big Leap. The trip would avoid many of the difficulties of planetary exploration. Traveling in highly eccentric orbits, some of the miniature planets occasionally pass millions of miles closer to the earth than either Mars or Venus. A spacecraft would have to use only a small amount of fuel to land on an asteroid and blast off again; a twelve-mile-wide asteroid, for example, would exert about one ten-thousandth of the earth's gravitational pull. Even if a ten-ton spacecraft turned over as it touched down, it could be easily righted.

Asteroid walks would be high adventure. Weighing less than an ounce in full space gear, an astronaut might jump half a mile off the surface before drifting gently back down. But Alfven and Arrhenius suggest limiting such activity to asteroids at least a mile across.

On smaller asteroids, gravity might be so weak that the jumper would reach escape velocity and soar off into space. With great leaps, the astronaut could also cover more ground. He could probably circumnavigate the little world in a few hours.

If man is to undertake such an adventure in the near future, there is little time to lose. In 1975, Alfven and Arrhenius note, an asteroid that seems almost ideal for exploration will come within 14 million miles of earth. It is 15 miles long and five miles wide, and will be traveling only 5,600 m.p.h. relative to the earth. That asteroid is Buck Rogers' favorite: Eros.

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