The concept of a gravity tractor was first put forth in a 2005 paper written by Edward Lu and Stanley Love at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Given the fact that an asteroid that’s just about 650 ...

The tractor would hover above the surface of the asteroid,without touching it, and use gravity as a towline. If the spacecraft maintainsa consistent distance between it and the asteroid, and ...

A little gentle persuasion might accomplish more than powerful missiles to keep the Earth safe from rogue asteroids.

A gravity tractor would fly near an asteroid and gravitationally nudge it off course (Illustration: Dan Durda/FIAAA/B612 Foundation) A "gravity tractor" could deflect an Earth-threatening asteroid ...

Space.com: Two NASA astronauts present a plan for an unmanned, spacecraft that uses the invisible bond of gravity to pull an asteroid gently into a new, non-threatening orbit.

To mark International Asteroid Day, ... Nuclear Bombs and Gravity Tractors: The Weird Ways Earth Could Be Saved From an Asteroid. Published Jun 30, 2021 at 9:19 AM EDT Updated Jul 12, ...

The space agency wants astronauts to visit the redirected asteroid by 2025, to meet an exploration deadline set by the White House. In 2010, President Barack Obama directed NASA to get people to a ...

A gravity tractor could deflect an Earth-threatening asteroid Credit: Dan Durda/FIAAA/B612 Foundation 9 Sending a nuclear bomb into space will be a last resort, officials have said Credit: Getty ...

Gravity tractor And yet another concept, gravity tractor, would deflect the asteroid without physically contacting it, but instead by using only its gravitational field to transmit a required impulse.

Gravity tractor And yet another concept, gravity tractor, would deflect the asteroid without physically contacting it, but instead by using only its gravitational field to transmit a required impulse.

The 1,260-pound Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, or DART, collided with the estimated 11-billion-pound, 520-foot-long asteroid Dimorphos at 14,000 mph about 7 million miles from Earth.

If NASA decides to go with the boulder option, the asteroid-capture mission will also include a planetary-defense demonstration, providing the first in-space test of a so-called "enhanced gravity ...