Musings on NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Mission

As I read the recent NBC News article about NASA’s proposed Asteroid Retrieval Mission, I couldn’t help but think about Sam Kepfield’s story, Open for Business, in the Far Orbit Anthology .  Sam’s story about capturing an asteroid and bringing it back to earth is so timely it could have been ripped from today’s headlines. It also shows us that good science fiction doesn’t have to be about some far off future or set in the far reaches of the universe. It can happen around the corner, down the street, or in our back yard.

In addition to NASA’s plans to snag an asteroid, two companies, Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources have announced measured initiatives to begin asteroid prospecting operations using small CubeSats and off-the-shelf technologies. Open for Business floats effortlessly on this sea of current events. The story reads like mid-century science fiction but there is a twist.  Rather than following the steely-eyed lead scientist, the author gives us a more human story by making the point of view character a slightly neurotic attorney. 

Anyway, these are the things that went through my mind while reading the NASA story.