Essentially, deliver an asteroid into Earth orbit and drop a wire down from it.
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On the other hand, a longer wait means a more accurate gauge of the asteroid's orbit, and thus of the need to do anything at all.
ECONOMIST: The American Association for the Advancement of Science
The reaction to this radiation is greater on the afternoon side than on the morning side and there is thus a small force pushing on the afternoon side that gradually distorts the asteroid's orbit.
Others have suggested we use nuclear weapons to "kick" an asteroid from its orbit, or even to shatter it into smaller debris -- a rather dim idea that misleads us into believing a single bullet is worse than the blast from a shotgun.
Comprised of silicate rock, the asteroid rolls through its eccentric orbit like a tumbling potato.
On February 14th, St Valentine's day, one of its craft went into orbit around an asteroid called Eros amid much over-rehearsed, toe-curling humour.
At the same time, the agency is working with its industry contractors to develop a heavy-lift rocket and space capsule to take Americans beyond Earth orbit to an asteroid and ultimately Mars.
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This would involve launching a spacecraft able to give the asteroid a nudge to change its orbit.
One day this information could be used to help move an asteroid out of an Earth-impacting orbit.
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Among its other discoveries, in 2011 Wise spotted in a "Trojan" asteroid ahead of the Earth in its orbit.
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Placing a transponder on an asteroid would enable scientists to closely track the asteroid wherever it may be in its orbit via telescopes and radar from earth.
During the simulation of the 2029 encounter with Apophis, it became clear that under the right conditions, the asteroid would be deflected into a new orbit that would send it back to threaten Earth exactly seven years later.
ECONOMIST: The American Association for the Advancement of Science
Bringing it back into an orbit where it can be more easily accessed is a relatively new idea as preconceived notions pointed to setting up an outpost on an asteroid and mining it while it was in orbit.
For instance, there is no clear linkage between the details in the plan and the space exploration goals and priorities established by the administration in terms of sending astronauts to an asteroid as an interim destination before sending humans to orbit and eventually to land on Mars.
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They become denizens of the asteroid belt found between Mars and Jupiter until they fall out of orbit, possibly after a collision.
NEAR-Shoemaker began its yearlong orbit around Eros on February 14 and currently circles the asteroid from a distance of 31 miles (50 km).
After a million years or so the influence of these large planets, it was thought, caused the fragments to be ejected from the asteroid belt altogether potentially ending up in an Earth-crossing orbit.
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They become denizens of the asteroid belt that's found between Mars and Jupiter until they fall out of orbit, possibly as a result of a collision with another object.
The asteroid orbits the Sun in 368 days - a period similar to Earth's year - but it does not orbit in the same plane as the Earth.
"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, " read a statement from the office of Florida Sen.
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