NASA's asteroid redirect mission enters next phase

ARM will see NASA use a robotic spacecraft to capture a multi-ton boulder from the surface of a large near-Earth asteroid, then place it into orbit around the Moon. Before beginning its trip to lunar orbit, the ARM spacecraft will attempt an asteroid deflection technique called a gravity tractor, where the spacecraft plus the mass of the captured boulder will create a small gravitational attraction to alter the orbit of the large asteroid.

Once the smaller boulder has the been placed into lunar orbit, crewed spacecraft will be deployed to study it, with the first such mission scheduled for 2026. The robotic mission is currently due to launch in December 2021, having recently passed the important landmark known as Key Decision Point-B, or KDP-B.

“This is an exciting milestone for the Asteroid Redirect Mission,” said NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot. “Not only is ARM leveraging agency-wide capabilities, it will test a number of new technologies already in development.”