Nasa to capture asteroid and put it to orbit around Moon to help humans mine the 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.

In a nutshell, the plan in NASA's hands calls for catching an asteroid with a robotic spacecraft and towing it back toward Earth, where it would then be placed in a stable orbit around the moon. Astronauts would then travel to the asteroid where "there could be mining activities, research into ways of deflecting an asteroid from striking Earth and testing to develop technology for a trip to deep space and Mars," it said. NASA's plan is similar to one suggested last year by experts at the California Institute of Technology. That plan proposed bringing a 500-ton asteroid closer to Earth. Obama supports NASA's plan and is including about $100 million in his proposed budget to kick it off. The president has previously said that he wants to send astronauts to an asteroid for the first time by 2025.NASA's plan would bump that date up by four years to 2021.The proposal may have gotten an unexpected boost in February when an asteroid exploded over Russia, injuring more than 1,000 people, causing millions of dollars in damage and sparking fresh concerns about the severity of space threats. Obama proposed that NASA follow the International Space Station program with a human mission to an asteroid by 2025. The agency has been developing a heavy-lift rocket and deep-space capsule capable of carrying astronauts beyond the station's 250-mile (400-km) high orbit. The system would be capable of travelling to the moon, asteroids and eventually to Mars, the long-term goal of the U.S. human space program. Obama's 2014 spending plan proposes $105 million to start work on the new mission, which entails finding a 23- to 33-foot (7 to 10-meter) wide asteroid and robotically towing or pushing it toward Earth so it ends up in a stable orbit near the moon. Astronauts aboard an Orion capsule would then blast off, land on the asteroid and bring back soil and rock samples for analysis."The plan combines the science of mining an asteroid, along with developing ways to deflect one, along with providing a place to develop ways we can go to Mars. Obama's budget proposal calls for a doubling of the $20 million NASA currently spends hunting and tracking asteroids; adding $38 million to speed development of a solar electric propulsion system that would be used to move an asteroid; $40 million for work on rendezvous and capture technologies; and $7 million for hazard-avoidance systems. BILLION-DOLLAR PRICE-TAG? NASA has not yet estimated the total cost of the mission, but expects it to be less than the $2.65 billion estimated last year. The Keck-led "Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study" proposed relocating a 500-ton asteroid closer to Earth to give astronauts a "unique, meaningful and affordable" destination in the next decade, meeting Obama's deadline. NASA also would look to partner with fledging space mining companies, such as start-ups Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, as well as agencies interested in planetary defence. The United States has been unable to fly astronauts since it retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011.