Now that’s a shot in the dark.
A Brooklyn-based company is working with NASA to create the first-ever space shotgun.
The gun, developed by Honeybee Robotics, will be used to test the strength of asteroids and other space rocks, in order to determine if a mass is sturdy enough for sampling.
The company, based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, calls the process “key” to sending humans to Mars.
“Collecting and characterizing samples from asteroids is an important science goal in itself, and NASA has identified it as a key step toward human exploration of Mars,” said Kris Zacny, vice president and director of exploration technology at Honeybee Robotics.
The technology is still in the conceptual phase, but is aimed to eventually be used as part of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission.
The gun works by dislodging chunks of asteroids out of orbit and bringing them closer to the moon, making them more accessible to scientists.