Of about 9, 700 near-Earth asteroids discovered so far, about 5, 200 are thought to be Apollos.
It is thousands of times bigger than some of its neighbours and part of a group known as the near-Earth asteroids.
So far they have counted more than 9, 000 near-Earth asteroids, and they spot another 800 new space rocks on average each year.
The mission would further clarify the threat that this particular object poses, and better predict the orbits of other near-Earth asteroids, Beshore said.
Planetary Resources plans to use near-earth asteroids as stepping stones to exploring the rest of the solar system by using their water to both support life and propel rockets.
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With its superior lift capability, the SLS will expand our reach in the solar system and allow us to explore cis-lunar space, near-Earth asteroids, Mars and its moons and beyond.
The good news is that below a certain size, depending on what they're made of, some near-Earth asteroids don't pose any danger, burning up as they pass through the atmosphere.
The point is that astronomers say that we don't know anything about 5 or 10% of the near-Earth asteroids that are larger than 1km in size - 20 times larger and radically heavier than this week's visitor.
There are probably many more comets than near-Earth asteroids, but Nasa points out they spend almost all of their lifetimes at great distances from the Sun and Earth, so that they contribute only about 10% to the census of larger objects that have struck the Earth.
NASA's slice of the pie includes a plan that would improve detection of near-Earth asteroids, send a solar-powered robot ship (like the NASA concept above) to capture one of the space rocks and tow it back to a stable orbit near Earth, where researchers could study it up close.
Near-Earth objects are asteroids or comets, believed to be remnants from the formation of the planets, whose orbits brings them close to the Earth.
Near-Earth objects are comets or asteroids in orbits that allow them to enter Earth's neighborhood.
Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: NASA's top expert on near-Earth objects says that new telescope systems are gradually getting a handle on potentially threatening asteroids.
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