Amy Mainzer, astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, named Asteroid 316201 after Malala, Dawn online reported Friday.
However, he added, the projects are only at the technical preparation stage, which suggests that it will be some time before an official project is announced.
With more telescopes scanning the sky, the ever-increasing volume of data makes it impossible for astronomers to verify each detection by hand.
The asteroid will pass about 745,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Earth, roughly three times farther away than the moon.
A large meteorite strike 66 million years ago sent up a plume of ash which is found as a layer of sediment in rocks around the world.
The mission was one of two under consideration by NASA to develop technologies and equipment needed to one day send astronauts to Mars.
It is also the closest a known asteroid this size will come to the Earth until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past our planet in 2027.
NASA is aiming to launch a rocket to an asteroid in five years and grab a boulder off of it - a stepping stone for an eventual trip sending humans to Mars.