Scientists want to use the Earth to "catch" asteroids for mining.

An asteroid driving towards Earth looks like a nightmare scenario – but a group of space scientists has come up with a plan to make it happen.

Why? Because capturing space rocks could allow us to explore them for extraterrestrial life and even exploit them for valuable resources like precious metals.

In a new study, researchers at the University of Glasgow revealed that aerobics could help them achieve their stunts.

Aerobraking is a drag maneuver used by a spacecraft like Mars reconnaissance Orbiter to change their orbit or speed using the atmosphere of a planet as a resistance that can drag them to the Landing – the rest being left to gravity.

According to the journal Science, the authors claim that this process could be used to slow enough small asteroids so that they do not just fly over the Earth, but stay in orbit and could be extracted from platinum or water.

These resources could then be sent to the International Space Station to feed future missions.

Meanwhile, the water, they suggest, could be split into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel purposes.

The high stakes method will only work on rocks less than 90 feet in diameter, the scientists say, and we may not be able to stop them from hitting the Earth – a concern that other scientists have also pointed out. .

The smaller asteroids, on the other hand, would light up in the atmosphere of our planet, mitigating the risk of an apocalyptic catastrophe.

But they admitted that additional precautions would be needed for a rock made of denser materials such as iron, which may not fully decompose at its entrance.

Fortunately, the entire feat would take place far from Earth and involve an unmanned spaceship applying enough force to an asteroid to put it on the path to us.

This spacecraft could also track the asteroid en route in the event that sudden course corrections are needed.

They add that if it is done at a sufficient distance, the maneuver would not require much effort, because a small push far away would effectively change the angle of an incoming rock.

Each case could be radically different, however, depending on the size and composition of the asteroid.

That's why they identified an ideal test subject: the asteroid 2005 VL1. They claim that this space rock is just the right size for such a mission and has the right speed to be redirected.

The question of whether a space agency in his mind will take over is another matter altogether.