NASA says the new task represents "technology achievement is unprecedented," and will lead to new scientific discoveries
The management of Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wednesday hoped to capture and move the asteroid to orbit around the moon, and this is part of its plans to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025.
As part of that plan is to capture and transfer asteroid weighing 500 tons through the robotic equipment, and allow astronauts to visit him by the year 2021 to collect samples.
And the beginning of next year and request an initial budget of $ 78 million, NASA will identify potential asteroids to accomplish that task and develop technology to capture the asteroid.
The mission will help "NASA" in a better understanding of the near-Earth objects, and disclosure of the potential risks to our solar system.
The asteroid will also intermediate destination for astronauts, as NASA is working to develop plans to send humans to Mars.
Said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden "This important achievement represents an unprecedented technology will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological capabilities to help protect our planet."
Stated that the management plan U.S. President Barack Obama to send astronauts to an asteroid and then to Mars works since 2010, after it had been to get rid of plans that have been developed in the era of George W. Bush to return to the moon.
