ORBITING CRAFT PULLS AT THE ASTEROID

ATTRACTION Send a probe to an asteroid and place it in an orbit slightly displaced from the large rock. That is the aim of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect mission in 2021, when a craft will be sent to an asteroid to steal a bite of it and orbit beside it. According to plan, the weak gravitational pull of the probe will slowly alter the path of the rock, i.e. the method can be used in situations, in which the threat is still far away from Earth.