Browse the overall Near Earth Objects database.
AI agents call browse_asteroids to retrieve information from Nasa without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and queries asteroid data from NASA's public Near Earth Objects database. The verb 'browse' and the context of a NASA astronomy API server confirm this is a data retrieval operation with no side effects, no code execution, and no ability to modify or delete data. Severity is low because the data is public and read-only access poses minimal risk.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'browse_asteroids' and description 'Browse the overall Near Earth Objects database' indicate querying/retrieving data from a read-only astronomical database with no modification or execution capabilities.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access browse_asteroids gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Nasa, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for browse_asteroids:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"browse_asteroids": {}
}
}browse_asteroids is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Browse the overall Near Earth Objects database. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Nasa MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Nasa MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for browse_asteroids: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Nasa. Nothing to install.
browse_asteroids is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the browse_asteroids rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for browse_asteroids. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
browse_asteroids is provided by the Nasa MCP server (jezweb/nasa-mcp-server). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Nasa, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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11 Nasa tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.