NASA's bold plan to park an asteroid near the moon may also test out a new way to protect Earth from dangerous space rocks. NASA officials are still ironing out the details of the mission, which may bag up an entire small space rock or snag a boulder off the surface of a large asteroid. If NASA decides to go with the boulder option, the asteroid-capture mission will also include a planetary-defense demonstration, providing the first in-space test of a so-called "enhanced gravity tractor," officials said. Given enough lead time, asteroids on a collision course with Earth can be safely deflected using a handful of methods.
Read More http://ift.tt/1owISzN
No comments:
Post a Comment