NASA astronauts Edward Lu and Stanley Love first proposed using a robotic spacecraft to nudge space rocks away from Earth using the gentle force of gravity a few years ago. Now a European aerospace giant has begun seriously investigating the concept.
The 11-ton "gravity tractor" would have to launch 15 years before a predicted collision between an asteroid and Earth, according to the BBC. But the company, EADS Astrium, noted that no spacecraft prototype has emerged just yet.
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