A Los Angeles-based company is boldly proposing a concept straight out of science fiction: to capture a house-sized asteroid, bag it, and tow it back to Earth’s vicinity for a groundbreaking purpose.
A Radical “New Moon” Mission
TransAstra, the private space venture, announced Wednesday its ambitious “New Moon” mission, designed to snag a near-Earth asteroid roughly the size of a small home, weighing around 100 metric tons. The audacious plan involves a specially designed spacecraft that would essentially deploy a colossal bag around the celestial rock, securing it for a journey back towards our planet.
From Space Junk to Space Station?
The ultimate goal, according to TransAstra CEO Joel Sercel, isn’t just to relocate the asteroid. Instead, the company envisions it becoming a vital hub for future space exploration and industry. “We envision it becoming a base for robotic research and development on materials processing and manufacturing,” Sercel explained. This could revolutionize how we build in space, potentially eliminating the need to launch massive amounts of material and fuel from Earth. The idea is to “harvest it from raw materials in space,” a concept that could pave the way for sustainable, long-term human presence beyond our atmosphere.
The project has already secured funding from an undisclosed client for a detailed study, a critical first step in assessing the feasibility of such an unprecedented undertaking. If successful, this “bagged” asteroid could represent a significant leap forward in humanity’s ability to utilize resources beyond Earth, heralding a new era of in-space manufacturing and research, all thanks to a very big cosmic sack.
📰 Source: Ars Technica
