NASA to launch space mission to capture and redirect astroid

Bangalore: US’ National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) will launch a space mission to capture and redirect an asteroid into an orbit closer to earth to enable its astronauts to visit it, a top space official said.

“As part of our new initiative, we are going to launch a mission to capture and redirect an asteroid into an orbit closer to earth so that astronauts can visit it,” NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden said in a talk delivered at the space applications centre of the state-run Indian space agency in Ahmedabad.

NASA plans to first locate a large asteroid floating in space closer to earth, deploy a robotic arm to capture it and push it into a safe orbit around the moon before sending astronauts in a capsule to study it.

On his first visit to India as NASA administrator, Bolden discussed the cooperative activities between the two space-faring countries with ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan and senior space officials and potential areas of future missions.

“India and the US pursue active civil space cooperation in earth sciences, space exploration, satellite navigation and professional exchange,” the space agency said in a statement here.

During his day-long visit, Bolden was shown the technical facilities of the space applications centre, which develops satellite sensors and antennas.