NASA plans to use a giant space bag to tow asteroids

Do you know those ideas of children, that usually nobody gives much ball? When you look at the project description for the first time, it may seem that NASA is having child consultants to help you with creative ideas, but the work required dozens of hours of research to complete.

What is new about the US Space Agency is the "capture" of asteroids with a giant space sac - an idea that seems rather silly but can represent a huge advance in space research. The project is intended to bring astronauts to study asteroids approaching Earth.

It works like this: First, an unmanned spacecraft is sent to meet the asteroid. There, it positions itself on the path of the celestial body, where it is ejected something that looks like a gigantic sac and serves to store the asteroid.

Image Source: Playback / YouTube Nasa

The ship would then go into orbit along with the asteroid. Once it is stable, a second ship is sent, this one with a crew on board. The first ship should function as a tugboat on the celestial body and will also be the way astronauts can approach the asteroid.

By docking the “tug” manned spacecraft, astronauts can collect samples of the rocks and metals found to study them in space and bring them to Earth. According to NASA, in addition to research, small-body capture tests can help in studies to divert the course of larger ones that have the potential to reach the planet.

In addition, many of the small asteroids found carry minerals stored since the creation of the solar system, which would help researchers better understand the formation of stars.

The mission is scheduled for 2025 and has yet to be fully detailed, but the US government is finding barriers to the agency having enough money to complete it. The US Congress strongly criticized the plans, as it could take investments from missions on Mars, research in which the government has been investing heavily.

For NASA researchers, the advancement of the project would actually be an engine for improving solar panels and other probe and capsule systems, which would be of direct benefit to manned missions to the Red Planet. The mission is being considered as the "best adventure" of astronauts since man's arrival on the moon.