NASA has been getting a lot of suggestions on how to deal with asteroids

Sep 5, 2013 18:11 GMT  ·  By

Despite some criticism, NASA is pushing ahead with its asteroid-capture idea and is revealing more details on a regular basis. Granted, it's not actually doing much to benefit the mission, but that's because it's still quite some time away.

In fact, NASA is still trying to figure out why it would want to capture an asteroid in the first place. To that end, it asked the public what it believed an asteroid would be useful for. It also asked for suggestions on how to protect our planet from rogue asteroids that may threaten it.

The space agency has now narrowed down the suggestions to 96 that it believes are worth exploring, if only in theory. NASA plans to discuss the ideas in a workshop planned for the end of the month.

"The ideas provide the agency with fresh insight into how best to identify, capture and relocate a near-Earth asteroid for closer study and respond to asteroid threats," NASA explained.

"They include pointers on how to decrease an asteroid's spin, nudge it away from a path toward Earth, take samples to return to Earth and create activities to heighten public awareness of not only the threat asteroids pose, but the valuable resources and scientific benefits they may offer," it added.