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The great asteroid grab

NASA plans to nab an asteroid and bring it into orbit around the moon. The mission is billed as a stepping stone to Mars, but critics question whether redirecting space rocks will help put humans on the Red Planet. Meghan Rosen detailed the debate in “A rocky road to Mars” (SN: 8/23/14, p. 22).

Responses to the Asteroid Redirect Mission ranged from enthusiastic (“Bring it home, NASA,” urged Stuart Pullinger on Facebook) to lukewarm. Many people agreed that the plan was at best a compromise. “Sure, ARM was not what President Obama initially had in mind when he challenged NASA to send astronauts to an asteroid,