Feature Planetary Science

NASA bets on asteroid mission as best path to Mars

Some scientists question whether redirect plan would get humans any closer to Red Planet

illustration of astronaut sampling an asteroid

ROCKY ROAD TO MARS  NASA has billed its Asteroid Redirect Mission as a stepping stone to Mars. In one mission concept, illustrated here, an astronaut collects a sample from a bagged asteroid orbiting the moon.

NASA

By Meghan Rosen

- More than 2 years ago

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Somewhere above the clouds, way up into the deep space of the inner solar system, there’s an asteroid tumbling near Earth with NASA’s name on it.