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Wouldn't it be nice for a colony near the south pole of our Moon to have a nickel-iron asteroid on the surface nearby !
Thousands near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have been discovered with a diameter up to 30 m, with the smallest known NEA having one of about 1 m.

The best candidates to bring down to the Moon would be the smallest ones with the lowest eccentricity and inclination, and a semi-major axis of 1 AU.

From the JPL Small Body Database for example, asteroid 2018WV1, with an eccentricity of 0.0603 and an inclination of 1.65, and with a low condition code would be one of the most suitable.

What would be the best course of orbital maneuvers done by rockets for such an asteroid for a "soft" landing near the lunar south pole and what would be the delta-v budget ?

Cornelis
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  • If my math is correct, a 4m diameter nickel-iron asteroid should mass around 280 metric tons. For comparison, the landing mass of the Apollo 17 LEM was somewhere between 11 (dry) and 36 (launch) metric tons. – Wayne Conrad Dec 08 '19 at 17:24
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    You can't soft-land anything without propulsion. – Hobbes Dec 08 '19 at 17:44
  • @Hobbes I thought when the asteroid is parallel flying with, and with the same velocity as the Moon above its south pole, it could slowly fall to its surface. Of course , orbital maneuvers can only be done by rockets pulling on the asteroid. – Cornelis Dec 08 '19 at 18:26
  • "when the asteroid is parallel flying with, and with the same velocity as the Moon" this would require the asteroid to be in the same orbit around Earth as the Moon. – Uwe Dec 08 '19 at 18:35
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    @Cornelisinspace Your approach would work for a soft landing on (say) Phobos, but the Moon\s gravity is much too strong. Without active braking, you hit the Moon at at least a couple of kilometers per second. – Steve Linton Dec 08 '19 at 18:56
  • @Uwe It would only flying parallel for a short time with the Moon relative to its orbit period around the earth, for instance a few hours. – Cornelis Dec 08 '19 at 20:10
  • @SteveLinton Yes of course, active braking would be needed by pushing the asteroid on the side from whatever direction would be needed and probably for a long time. – Cornelis Dec 08 '19 at 20:17
  • @Hobbes Sorry, i don't understand that question at all. It's "abracadabra " for me ! – Cornelis Dec 08 '19 at 20:24
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    You can ignore that question, but the two highest-rated answers answer your question. – Hobbes Dec 08 '19 at 20:27
  • To get an asteroid into an orbit 'parallel flying with, and with the same velocity as the Moon' you have to expend the same energy as for a soft landing. – Hobbes Dec 09 '19 at 07:33
  • @Hobbes I now understand it's all about the Hill sphere. I thought it could be of value to compare the energy needed to bring an asteroid to the Moon with bringing the same amount of mass from Earth to the Moon. Thanks for notifying me. – Cornelis Dec 09 '19 at 08:42

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