NASA to Try to Capture Asteroid, Pull to the Moon

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced new plans to capture and re-direct a near-Earth asteroid, and is taking proposals to figure out the best way to do it, according to CBS.

The federal agency's plan, which can be seen in a simulated video here, would serve to help deepen NASA's commitment to exploration of the origins of Earth and the universe, according to the agency's press release. Using a solar/electric propulsion, a robotic capture vehicle would unfurl a bellows-like canopy, wrap around the asteroid, and hold it in place. The  crew, which will have launched in on the Orion spacecraft after slingshotting around the moon, will attach to the capture vehicle and descend down to the asteroid, where they'll collect fragments and take photographs of the space rock to bring back to terra firma. The whole mission will take nineteen days total; nine to reach the asteroid, ten to venture back. 

NASA has fielded some 400 proposals for their project since announcing a tender for submissions on the 22nd of August. They hope to narrow down their baseline concept in the coming months and establish a more detailed plan in 2014.

Space exploration has long faded from the hype of the 1960s, when the cold war propelled a race to the moon between the United States and superpower competitor the Soviet Union. In those years, the American space program would regularly cost upwards of $30 billion per year, adjusting for inflation. That spelt over 4% of the federal government's total budget; in comparison, this year's budget projects under $18 billion; it's quite a bit, but at less than 0.5% of overall federal expenditures, the cold war space race has clearly cooled down considerably.

In fact, the biggest splash to come out of space exploration in recent years was the October 2012 space jump by Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner. That jump, from 102,800 feet shattered records and briefly captured the imagination of Americans who followed along on live stream. Of course, that jump wasn't technically from space, which space research generally agree starts at the Karman line, 300,000+ feet above sea level. Nor was the event sponsored by NASA; that jump was funded by Red Bull, more commonly known for their energy drinks.

Hopefully, the new asteroid launch brings discovery and pride back to an American space program that's taken a step back from the public spotlight in recent decades.