NASA plans to catch an asteroid
April 8th, 2013
12:13 AM ET

NASA plans to catch an asteroid

NASA is planning to catch an asteroid and place it in orbit around the moon.

Seriously.

What sounds like something from science fiction is actually a part of President Barack Obama's proposed federal budget for the next fiscal year, according to a Florida senator.

The budget is expected to be unveiled this week.

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soundoff (8 Responses)
  1. chrissy

    Oh so theyve come up with a form of fishing for astronauts?

    April 8, 2013 at 12:58 am | Report abuse |
  2. Joey Isotta-Fraschini ©™

    What a wonderful boost for the image of our country! What an advance toward protecting mankind from destructive objects from space!
    I know that many will complain that this money should be spent on the poor, but the benefit of advancing science is more important.

    April 8, 2013 at 1:42 am | Report abuse |
    • ronvan

      JIF: Tend to agree. IF this works then maybe they will be able to "catch" one and redirect it from hitting us.

      April 8, 2013 at 5:28 am | Report abuse |
    • Optimus

      I'd actually say it's equally important to help the poor. However, you have to realize that programs like this one helps the economy in multiple ways. That in turn further provides us the ability to help those in need.

      April 8, 2013 at 4:29 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Pete

    This is probibly the case with NASA teaming up with engineers to reroute this asteroid away from a collision course with earth ..Remember the misses we incurred this past year in Russia and the schoolbus size one that just missed us recently a couple of months ago..There's more to astronomy than watching meteor showers dance across our nightly skies especially if one tries to collide with earth something none of rightly want right now!!

    April 8, 2013 at 9:48 am | Report abuse |
  4. bobcat (in a hat)©

    Okay, so they are talking about catching an asteroid, putting in orbit around our moon, essentially giving our moon a moon. Then they plan mining that asteroid. That brings a lot of questions to mind.
    (1) Will the mining crews create a boomtown on the asteroid like they did in the old west during the gold rush ?
    (2) Will they live on the ISS and commute daily to the asteroid ?
    (3) Since this promises to be one hell of an expesive mining operation, are the powers that be going to outsource the work to countries that gaurantee cheap labor, much like they do today, in order to maximize their profits ?

    April 8, 2013 at 12:03 pm | Report abuse |
    • Merry Christmas!

      The asteroid will be the new space station.

      April 8, 2013 at 5:11 pm | Report abuse |
  5. bobcat (in a hat)©

    During the initial space flights, Nasa discovered that biro pens didn’t work under zero gravity conditions. To beat the problem, Nasa spent 6 years and $2 million in designing a pen for use in space. The pen would work under zero gravity conditions due to the pressurized ink inside, it would work under sub zero conditions, underwater, on glass and virtually any surface known to man. The Russians used a pencil.

    April 8, 2013 at 1:19 pm | Report abuse |
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