Vrftjkry

up vote 28 down vote favorite 6 An asteroid approaches and the Moon 'catches' it in the same way that a sports player catches a ball - that is to say by matching the velocity of the hand to that of the ball. Could a lucky slingshot approach cause this to happen? Assuming that the Moon has no atmosphere, my intuition tells me that there must be a direction and velocity such that an asteroid can do this. Does mathematics say otherwise? Gravity assist In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist maneuver, or swing-by is the use of the relative movement (e.g. orbit around the Sun) and gravity of a planet or other astronomical object to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft. NOTE I mean that the asteroid approaches the Moon in a direction opposite to the Moon...