Drag the asteroid to the moon

NASA is considering a daring mission, which is to "capture" the asteroid and hang it in the moon's orbit to study.

Scientists at the Keck Space Research Institute in California (USA) say NASA is considering the institute's proposal to build a robot cruise ship, used to pull a small asteroid and turn it into The high orbit of the moon, according to the NewScientist page.

Such a mission could cost up to $ 2.6 billion, similar to the mission of sending Curiosity self-propelled devices to Mars, and could be ready to deploy in the 2020s, according to the Keck Institute.

The prospect of using a robot to pull asteroids - (Photo: Keck Institute of Space Studies)

President Barack Obama's administration said it wanted to send astronauts to asteroids close to Earth, but that mission could take up to six months, and push astronauts into toxic radiation exposure.

Using a robot spacecraft to 'catch' asteroids to the moon can be a better start, since the Earth's orbiting natural satellites are within the easy range of checkered devices. boots and man-made missions.

The team at the Keck Space Research Institute is proposing to build a slow-moving cruise ship, approaching an asteroid that is no more than 6 meters across, and draws it into a large 9x14 meter bag and pulls it in the face. moon.

It is expected that the cruise ship will take 6 to 10 years to put the asteroid into orbit of the moon.