NASA is once again pioneering humanity's space ventures in hopes to intercept a dangerous deep-space asteroid and reel it once more into the atmosphere of Earth. The first of the two missions will be crucial for the deepening of understanding of NASA's mission to Mars, as well learning more about the inner workings of the solar system.
If the mission proves to be a success, then the asteroid can be used as a series of petrol pump bases for space missions that will happen in the future. NASA hopes to successfully send astronauts into the asteroid in order to put a robotic spacecraft that will be responsible for steering off the massive chunk of rock into the desired place.
What's with NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission?
The asteroid will then be brought back to the orbit of the moon, enabling astronauts to obtain rock samples from the asteroid back into the earth. NASA calls the asteroid as 2008 EV5, and that speculation on the budget reaches a whopping $1.25 billion.
The asteroid was once thought to be a very dangerous heavenly body that can wipe out life on earth as we know it. However now, it is already regarded as one of an ideal space bodies for space agencies to lay their hands on.
The Risks of NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission
Despite the seeming positive benefits that we can get from hurling it back into the earth, there is still a certain amount of risk involved as alien microbes, bacteria, or even extraterrestrial virus can reach our planet and in turn inflict a massive wide scale epidemic.
Jonathan McDowell, a professor at the Smithsonian Institution says, "There isn't too much concern about asteroids contaminating Earth remember we get hit by them every now and again, so they've already contaminated us good and proper. Bigger concern, albeit just scientific, is us contaminating the asteroid."
