A few days after the spectacular meteor fall in Russia, as well as the passage of an asteroid within striking distance of Earth, NASA and the European ESA announced details of the proposed AIDA mission, which would be the first asteroid interception experiment.
If the proposal is accepted, the European Space Agency says, the AIDA mission will target the asteroid Gemini when it comes relatively close to Earth in 2022.
Gemini does not threaten Earth, but the experiment would provide valuable data in the event that the planet finds itself in the path of a stray space rock.
Gemini is actually a binary system consisting of two asteroids orbiting each other. One rock is about 800 meters in diameter, while the other is about 150.
The mission will consist of two parts. The first is the DART spacecraft, which will collide with the smaller asteroid at a speed of 6.25 kilometers per second (22,500 km/h). The second spacecraft, called AIM, will monitor the effects of the collision to determine how much the target's trajectory has changed.
The international plan for the AIDA mission foresees that the DART impactor will be developed by the American Johns Hopkins University and NASA, while the AIM will be built in Europe.
Interested researchers around the world are now invited to submit proposals by mid-March on the mission's scientific objectives and the data that could be collected.
The proposals will be announced in April, but the final decision on whether the mission will be implemented could be delayed for several more years.
Meanwhile, scientists around the world are considering various other ideas for saving Earth from asteroids that could destroy a city or the entire planet.
The "implantation" tactic that the AIDA mission would attempt is believed to be sufficient to intercept only very small asteroids.
For larger rocks, ideas that have been proposed include the use of powerful lasers, which would be powered by solar energy and would gradually deflect the object from its path, remaining in continuous operation for weeks or even months.
