Asteroid Redirect Mission

planned astronomical project, United States

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July 21, 2026

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The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) was a planned project by NASA, part of its broader planetary defense strategy. The primary goal was to develop technologies to capture a near-Earth asteroid and move it to a stable lunar orbit. This would allow astronauts to visit and study the asteroid up close, advancing our understanding of these celestial bodies and testing techniques for future deep-space missions. While ARM was canceled, its objectives contributed to subsequent missions like the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which successfully tested asteroid deflection capabilities.12

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Constellation program
…incorporated in 2013 into the Asteroid Redirect Mission, in which in the early 2020s a probe would retrieve a boulder from an asteroid’s surface and bring it to lunar orbit, where astronauts on board an Orion spacecraft could study it. Orion had its first flight test on December 5, 2014,…
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…incorporated in 2013 into the Asteroid Redirect Mission, in which in the early 2020s a probe would retrieve a boulder from an asteroid’s surface and bring it to lunar orbit, where astronauts on board an Orion spacecraft could study it. Orion had its first flight test on December 5, 2014,…
Read More