NASA wants to capture an asteroid and launch it into orbit around Moon

It has recently been announced that NASA is currently planning to send an unmanned spacecraft to space which could capture in order to bring it in the orbit around the Moon. NASA has already requested a budget of $100 million for this project to be issued in the fiscal year 2014.

A feasibility study for this project had already been prepared by the Keck Institute for Space Studies last year which proposed a project to capture a 7-meter wide and 1.1 million pound asteroid using a spacecraft. According to that study the project would cost $2.6 billion to build. The NASA’s crazy sounding plan has reportedly attracted favor from the White House office of Science and Technology Policy and now NASA and its Jet Propulsion Lab is reviewing this project and studying its feasibility. The members from the Keck Institute, which proposed the idea of capturing a steroid and launching it in orbit around the moon have already briefed the National Research Council human-spaceflight technical feasibility panel.

According to astrologists who have proposed this project if anything went wrong in this process no danger would pose to the planet Earth as the asteroid they are planning to capture has the consistency of a dried mudball.

The reason for this project which would require a lot of work and funds is that astrologists want to create an affordable destination for astronauts so it could be used in preparation for future manned missions to Mars and this would also serve the purpose for President Obama’s goal of sending astronauts to an asteroid that is near to the planet Earth by the year 2025.

This sure sounds like an interesting mission and would open new doors for humans in space and their quest to land on Mars after conquering the moon.

Do you have interest in space and NASA’s missions like this one? Let us know of your thoughts in the comments section below.