WASHINGTON — NASA has pushed back a widely anticipated decision on the design of its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) until January as it seeks to understand if the technology offered by one option is worth its additional complexity and cost.

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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...