An artist's illustration of asteroids, or near-Earth objects, that highlight the need for a complete Space Situational Awareness system. ESA/P.Carril

The results of aworkshopto find the best ways to find, track and deflect asteroids headed for Earth were released by NASA on Feb. 7.

NASA's Asteroid Initiative, started in 2013, includes a mission tocapture a small near-Earth asteroidand drag it into a stable orbit around the moon, and a challenge to devise the best ideas for detecting and defending against potentially dangerous asteroids.

The agency put out a request for information to refine the objectives of the Asteroid Initiative, to generate other mission concepts and increase participation in the mission and planetary defense. [NASA's Asteroid-Capture Mission in Pictures]

NASA received an enthusiastic response, including from the general public. The agency evaluated the ideas it received and chose 96 of them toexplorefurther at a two-part workshop at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, on Sept. 30 and Nov. 20 to 22, 2013.

"We are already acting on the ideas submitted through the [request] process," NASA said in a statement.

For example, the agency reactivated the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft, now known asNEOWISE, in Sept. 2013, to look for near-Earth asteroids that could be targets for the Asteroid Redirect Mission.

The workshop report also recommended holding more forums to get citizens involved in the Asteroid Initiative and create incentives to reach milestones in the asteroid mission and grand challenge.

The Asteroid Redirect Mission aims to capture a 23- to 33-foot (7 to 10 meters)asteroid, or a 1- to 33-foot. (1 to 10 m) boulder on a space rock, then haul it into lunar orbit using an unmanned spacecraft. Astronauts could then visit the asteroid using NASA's Orion crew capsule and Space Launch System rocket, bring samples of the rock down to Earth.

The Grand Challenge seeks to identify all asteroids that could pose a threat to humanity and boost NASA's current planetary defense efforts.

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NASA report: How to defend Earth from asteroids