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Blue Origin is collaborating with NASA and Caltech on the NEO Hunter mission, designed to protect Earth from hazardous asteroids. This initiative will integrate planetary defense into the Blue Ring spacecraft platform, which can carry up to 4,000 kg of payload across various orbits.

NEO Hunter will employ multiple techniques to intercept and redirect potentially dangerous asteroids. The mission involves launching cubesats to assess asteroid threats, and if necessary, employing ion beam technology or robust kinetic disruption to change their trajectories. The mission is marked by increasing attention to planetary defense due to recent incidents involving asteroids.