Can NASA Save Us From Asteroid Armageddon ?

Probably not, but that does not seem to be stopping the world’s largest space agency from planning a mission on these space rocks.

(Space.com) Progress is being made on defining a human mission to an asteroid. Experts at several NASA centers are sketching out a prospective piloted stopover at an asteroid-a trek that could return samples from a targeted space rock as well as honing astronaut proficiency and test needed equipment for other space destinations. [...]

Meanwhile, NASA is wrapping up a report required by the U.S. Congress on how best to search for, catalog and even deal with the hazard of Earth-bruising rocks from space. That space agency report is to be turned over to Congress by year’s end.

Although we will not be landing on the asteroid, NASA hopes to gain more knowledge about these space rocks in order to perfect future space missions (which will be quite helpful around those Martian moons).

Currently humanity has no way to deflect asteroids heading straight towards Earth (so in that regards we are screwed) but we may be able to alter their orbits via a space tractor.

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