NASA officials are eyeing an asteroid "the size of a delivery truck" for the agency's project to put a space rock in orbit around the moon for manned missions to land on.
Around 20 feet in length, this particular asteroid came relatively close to Earth in 2011, zooming an estimated 7,600 miles above our planet, the Associated Press reported.
Northern Arizona University astronomer Michael Mommert described the asteroid under consideration as "the size of a delivery truck."
NASA is looking at a range of different asteroids and has two possible plans to capture a space rock and send it orbiting around the moon.
"We might actually be able to put this asteroid in a garage," Mommert told the AP.
Known as 2011 MD, the asteroid weighs about 100 tons, according to NASA observations. Because it is so porous, 2011 MD is likely only one-third rock with two-thirds of empty space.
NASA will decide on a plan for the asteroid mission by the end of the year, Michele Gates, program director for the asteroid mission, told the AP.
One plan has NASA capturing an asteroid with a giant claw or a giant inflatable bag before putting it in orbit above the moon. For the second option, NASA is looking to take a boulder measuring 30 feet across or less from a bigger asteroid and sending the plucked-off piece to the moon.
The robotic component of the mission alone will cost NASA some $1.2 billion, but the agency hasn't yet estimated how much it will have to spend to send a giant rocket with astronauts up to the space rock.
NASA earlier sent out an open call for ideas to capture an asteroid.
"We're in this sort of pre-formulation phase, studying and gathering input, leading to a mission concept review that we'll have in early 2015, where we'll try and focus down to a specific concept, and then go develop and implement," said Greg Williams, deputy associate administrator for policy and plans in NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, as quoted by Space.com in late March.
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