A conceptual image of an astronaut, anchored to a foot restraint, preparing to investigate the asteroid boulder. (NASA)

It’s called the or ARM, and it’s an apropos name for the NASA project aimed at reaching into space, snatching a boulder from the surface of an asteroid and moving it into an orbit safe for humans to study. On Wednesday, March 25, the agency announced more details of this , which is “all in support of advancing the nation’s journey to Mars,” according to a NASA news release.

Rock retrieval is still at least five years away, slated for December 2020, and as of yet, NASA hasn’t picked the lucky asteroid. It does have three contenders — Itokawa, Bennu and 2008 EV5 — and expects to select at least a half dozen more before making its final choice.

When the mission launches, “the ship would spend about a year and pluck a 13-foot boulder off its surface using robotic arms,” the Associated Press reported. Robert Lightfoot, NASA’s associate administrator, said during a news briefing this would present up to five opportunities to “grab the rock,” according to the AP.Astronauts would begin exploration of the rock sometime around 2025.

This wasn’t the first NASA asteroid plan. Originally, the agency intended to , which astronauts would then visit and study as early as 2021, Space.com reported in 2013. “Scientists are searching for a specific kind of space rock to tow into orbit around the moon. NASA officials want an asteroid between 20 and 30 feet (7 and 10 meters) in size, fairly small for an asteroid …. Officials are also hoping to capture an asteroid that will be made out of useful material.” That was then.

Now it’s on to “,” as NASA calls it. The agency redirected partially because if the goal is grabbing a rock from an asteroid instead of a whole asteroid, more options exist, plus “more technologies that could be applied to future exploration missions, including the ability to perform a soft landing on the asteroid and mechanisms for grappling the boulder,” SpaceNews noted.

Some have called the mission . “I don’t think there’s a clear consensus on much in Congress, but we all agree that pushing a rock around in space is a waste of taxpayer dollars that we don’t have to spare,” Congressman John Culberson of Texas told the Houston Chronicle in 2014, adding that Americans should go back to the moon instead.

Others say it’s just plain . From Scientific American: “As exciting as this mission may seem, it is a far cry from the precursor proposals initially used to justify ARM, and many scientists and policymakers view its present form with lukewarm enthusiasm if not outright disdain.” President Obama, in 2010, touted it as a to sending humans to Mars.

Time will tell whether the United States is more than an arm’s length (sorry) from visiting an asteroid and eventually, Mars.

MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: Beautiful Images of Space

The ESO 3.6-meter telescope at La Silla observatory in Chile, during observations. (ESO/S. Brunier)