NASA has presented a mission to tow an asteroid into the Moon's orbit for Astronauts to explore as early as 2021, according to a news report from Space.com.
NASA's mission to tow an asteroid into the moon's orbit can cost as much as $2.6 billion and is currently waiting for the approval of lawmakers. Once that is obtained, the space agency will send an unnamed spacecraft to capture a small asteroid. This will be placed in the moon's orbit so that future astronauts can visit and study the characteristics of the asteroid in the future.
"You have to find the asteroid, then you're going to send a probe to it, you're going to grab it, you're going to capture it and then you're gonna tow it back home," Mike George from the Arizona Science Center Planetarium explained Monday.
If things go according to plan, the mission will be completed by 2012 when astronauts can take a trip to study and observe the asteroid. According to George, the research and discoveries that can take place after the research is completed will certainly be worth every penny spent and lawmakers will not regret sanctioning the $2.6 billion.
"If we can bring back an asteroid and we can study it, we can find out more about asteroids and maybe how we can deflect those if we know about them well in advance," he said.
He also clarified that the asteroid will not budge from the position it will be placed in and so there is no threat of it colliding or causing any damage to earth. According to NASA the ideal asteroid to be captured to should about 20 to 30 feet in diameter and weighing 500 tons. The plan is to capture the space rock in a cup-shaped container described as an "inflatable asteroid capture bag."
According to a report by Ktar, the White house will reportedly include $105 million for the project in their 2014 budget.
