The NASA Research and Technology Studies (RATS) team are gearing up for possible trips to near-Earth asteroids.The team is currently in training and testing new technologies.

The first phase of the program took pace last Dec. 13 and have just ended Dec. 15. It would resume in Jan. 18 - 20, 2012. This phase focuses on finding out how well the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV) will function as a vehicle and as a habitat. The first phase is separated into two, three-day parts. The whole phase is conducted in the Johnson Space Center's Building 9.

During those three days, the team, composed of two-person crews, will simulate everyday activities in the MMSEV cabin. Throughout the training the astronauts will engage in activities inside and outside the vehicle. These activities will cycle for each of them to ready them for the responsibilities and duties that will be relegated to them in a mission. The astronauts will also be subjected to simulations of missions on a near-Earth asteroids using the suitports in the end of the MMSEV to exit the vehicle.

The MMSEV is simulated with a mock life-scale model of it that is mounted across an air sled to move across the floor. Along with the huge mock model MMSEV, the astronauts also have the Virtual Reality Laboratory (VRL) at their disposal while training in the Johnson Space Center.

The astronauts chosen to be the crew of the RATS team are divided in to two two-man crews. The first crew is composed of Michael L. Gernhardt PhD, manager of Environmental Physiology Laboratory and Principle Investigator of Prebreath Reduction Program, and Brent Garry PhD, a geologist. The second crew is composed of Dr, Stanley G. Love, a veteran of the STS-122 Atlantis Shuttle Mission and Dr. José M. Hurtado, Jr., another geologist. They have a backup crew composed of Kelsey Young, also a geologist.

The crew would mostly deal with geology missions on asteroids after the training. Asteroids are also eyed by NASA as a mining resource with their Near-Earth Object Program. Near-Earth Objects or NEOs are estimated to be rich in mineral raw materials with comets supplying liquid hydrogen and water necessary for refueling space vessels.