Asteroids are rich in resources which could be mined in the future. Photo: NASA

Asteroids – the fuel for space exploration

Despite playing the villains in many a Hollywood movie, asteroids are actually our friends when it comes to space travel. On a planet of dwindling resources and increasing pollution, it is looking more and more likely that we will have to colonise space in the future, and yet we are still unable to send manned missions beyond our own moon. The main stumbling block is that we have a lack of resources to do this on any reasonable scale.

One solution is to develop faster, more efficient technology (particularly propulsion). However, this only allows us to reach slightly further than we can now, and doesn’t provide a permanent solution. So far the human race has regarded Earth as our only resource in the universe and so we mine it for all it has in order to make the most of what we’ve got.

Yet, beyond our sky, space is filled with energy – electrical storms flash about atmospheres, asteroids and comets hurtle through our solar system and cosmic rays ignite planets. There is a lot out there that we can harness.
Current space programmes rely on building craft on Earth and making short trips into space. Constantly escaping Earth’s gravity requires a vast amount of fuel, not to mention the cost of reconstructing jettisoned engine modules and repairing damaged components. It also places the astronauts in a significant amount of danger during both take-off and atmospheric re-entry.

The next step must be to launch craft from space with extremely specialised shuttles, transporting personnel between an orbiting station and the Earth’s surface. A foundation for this has been laid with the creation of the International Space Station (ISS), beginning the era of long-term manned space missions.

With this in place we can begin to use resources outside of our planet. There are approximately 1000 known asteroids with diameters of one kilometre or greater that are easily reachable from Earth with standard spacecraft. Many of these contain valuable minerals – most notably precious metals. The composition of asteroids can largely be deduced remotely using various methods, the most useful being the measurement of its size and motion relative to gravitational fields.

Once a mineral rich asteroid has been spotted, a cheap surveying drone could be sent from a station to ascertain exactly what the asteroid contains – and if it is found to be a lucrative prospect, a robotic mining module could be dispatched to extract the minerals and return them to the station. From here, the resources could either be used there or transported to the Earth below. This seems like the stuff of science-fiction but is actually very easy with current technology. The extreme elliptical orbits of asteroids means they pass very close to our planet, as the recent close call asteroid did, and unlike on Earth, heavy minerals are common near their surfaces.

Asteroids are not only rich in materials that are rare on Earth but also contain raw materials such as iron and nickel which could be used directly in components built in space. Water found on asteroids can be used to power machines and provide radiation shielding for manned craft. Also, electricity is easily generated from the almost constant sunlight, unimpeded by atmospheric shielding.

If we are to reach beyond our planet we must start harnessing local environments. Already large bodies are preparing to move into this area and once mining in micro-gravity is perfected, the extra-planetary gold-rush will begin.

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