Nasa has found a possible target in its hunt to find an asteroid suitable for capturing with a robotic spacecraft, bringing into a stable orbit around the moon, and sending astronauts to study.
The agency has found six cadidates so far, but the current prime target is a tiny 6m-long asteroid named “2011 MD”, that hurtled past Earth in 2011, missing the planet by around 12,250km.
Nasa plans launch the spacecraft with a robotic arm or giant inflatable bag capable of catching an asteroid in flight by 2019, as part of its human Path to Mars programme, and plans to make the final selection of which asteroid to target sometime in 2018.
William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said:
“With these system concept studies, we are taking the next steps to develop capabilities needed to send humans deeper into space than ever before, and ultimately to Mars, while testing new techniques to protect Earth from asteroids”
