How Asteroid Mining Will Pave the Way for Safe, Comfortable Space Exploration Vehicles and Even Space Colonies
We didn’t even know asteroids existed until 1801, when Giuseppe Piazza came across Ceres by accident while making a star map. Now we know there’s millions. Only about 20,000 are considered near Earth asteroids with about 860 of those over a kilometer in diameter.
Their orbits around the Sun have them crossing paths with Mars, Earth, Venus and sometimes Mercury before returning to the asteroid belt. They circle in and out, around and around for millions of years in the same orbit.
Stretched out in your one-piece Nike All-Conditions suit on an aerogel blanket on the surface of an asteroid, you would be afforded a panoramic view of the Solar System sliding by. Sounds like fantasy but it could be closer to the truth than you think. Once asteroid mining begins, so might begin the luxury asteroid shuttle age.
A good, reliable artificial intelligence that can deal with new situations much as a human is all that’s needed for asteroid mining to become a reality. That and a lot of money, a few finer points of outer space legalities to be hashed out, and good prospecting reports on some particular asteroid.
AI controlled drones will converge on the chosen asteroid, set up shop, and begin to…
