science and technology( NASA plans to catch asteroids)

WASHINGTON - NASA is focusing attention on the asteroids you want to capture and then carry them around the Moon and astronauts make the visit to studies.

Space agency officials described on Thursday an excellent candidate: a small asteroid passed about 12,230 kilometers (7.600 miles) above the Earth in 2011.

With 6.1 meters (20 feet) in length, is "the size of a delivery truck; in fact this asteroid could put in a garage, "said Michael Mommert, an astronomer at Northern Arizona University who studied the rock, which is named 2011 MD.

That asteroid could also be composed of a stack of smaller rocks that move together in formation.

NASA's plan is to catch an asteroid with a giant claw or capture with a huge inflatable bag. Would be "parked" over the moon and the astronauts would explore in a later mission.

Lindley Johnson, NASA's chief executive, said that eventually there will be about 10 rocks to capture possible in the early 2020s, but it could be that not all were small asteroids.

There is a second option that NASA is considering: send a spacecraft to a much larger asteroid, using a claw to start a minor (30 feet) long and nine meters near the moon move stub.

At year's end the NASA decide which option to follow, said Michele Gates, program director for the mission to the asteroids.