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Asteroid miners could use Earth’s atmosphere to catch space rocks
Science ^ | 8/29/18 | Joshua Rapp Learn

Posted on 08/29/2018 11:32:33 PM PDT by LibWhacker

Forget deflecting asteroids from hitting Earth—some engineers are drawing up a strategy to steer asteroids toward us, so our atmosphere can act as a giant catching mitt for resource-rich space rocks. What might sound like a crazy idea is actually quite business savvy, according to Minghu Tan, a Ph.D. student at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom who co-authored the new study. That’s because such near-Earth asteroids can host supplies, such as water and precious metals, that could support future human missions to space. But other scientists are skeptical that the concept will ever get off the ground.

The study involves aerobraking, or using the drag created by Earth’s atmosphere to slow down the path of an incoming object. Aerobraking isn’t new—every incoming spacecraft to Earth uses it to slow itself down before landing, and probes to other planets, such as the European Space Agency’s Venus Express and ExoMars missions, have also used the technique.

In the new paper, Tan and colleagues propose using aerobraking to slow small asteroids enough that they don’t just shoot straight past Earth, but stay in orbit, where they could be mined for platinum or water. Those resources could then be taken to space stations to supply future missions or operations. Water, they write, could even be split into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. All it would take is a precisely calculated push from an unmanned spacecraft, they report this month in Acta Astronautica.

And if the maneuver were done far enough from Earth—millions of kilometers, in most cases—it likely wouldn’t take much effort. That’s because a small push from far away would greatly change the angle of an incoming space rock’s path. Tan notes that each case would be different, depending on the trajectory of the target asteroid, and says that modifications might be necessary if the asteroid gets off track.

“I think it’s a grand gesture,” says astronomer Sherry Fieber-Beyer, who was not involved in the study. But the director of the University of North Dakota’s space studies observatory in Grand Forks adds that although it’s a neat idea, “You can make anything look great on paper.”

She says that although the trajectories of many near-Earth asteroids are relatively well known, their composition is not. Metal and other dense materials react differently than lighter rocks, making it critical to understand the makeup of any potential targets. “If it’s made out of solid iron, you won’t be able to slow that sucker down,” Fieber-Beyer says. And what might appear at a distance to be an asteroid could actually be nothing more than packed rubble.

According to Feiber-Beyer and physicist Ingo Mueller-Wodarg, who studies planetary atmospheres at Imperial College London, another potential problem is that asteroids are not perfect spheres. An object with an odd shape could wobble unpredictably in orbit. “The risk would lie in the asteroid having an irregular shape and hence experiencing torque, beginning to spin and hence go out of control,” Mueller-Wodarg says. “When we do aerobraking with satellites, we carefully fire small rockets to keep [them] on course and compensate for any such wobble.”

But the biggest risk, Mueller-Wodarg and Fieber-Beyer say, would be causing an asteroid to crash into Earth, possibly causing widespread death and destruction. Tan disputes that charge, noting the paper looked only at asteroids smaller than 30 meters in diameter, which would vaporize as soon as they hit the lower atmosphere. He acknowledges that extra care would be needed if an asteroid were made of a denser material like iron, which might not burn up completely.

Tan’s team doesn’t have any particular clients in mind, but he says that companies such as Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources have plans to eventually capture and mine asteroids. They’ll have plenty to choose from, Tan says—more than 1000 near-Earth asteroids fit his team’s size requirements.

Of course, the idea of purposely steering anything larger into Earth’s orbit might have some detractors—just ask the dinosaurs.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: asteroid; atmosphere; earth; mining

1 posted on 08/29/2018 11:32:33 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker
"… some engineers are drawing up a strategy to steer asteroids toward us"

Some engineers? Well OK then; that's good. I mean if they're engineers, what could possibly go wrong!


2 posted on 08/29/2018 11:42:30 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ("Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.")
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To: LibWhacker

if the diamond asteroid miners figure this out, I want in.


3 posted on 08/30/2018 12:03:20 AM PDT by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: LibWhacker

I am not at all worried about the military/terrorist applications of this technology. What are the chances that someone would and could sabotage the reentry system to created a (mach 25 plus) hard landing?


4 posted on 08/30/2018 12:30:58 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: LibWhacker

It’s called aerobraking, duh.


5 posted on 08/30/2018 12:34:14 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: 867V309

They want to collect water. On a planet that is 75% water.


6 posted on 08/30/2018 1:09:22 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
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To: a fool in paradise


They want to collect water. On a planet that is 75% water.

well, perrier made a fortune selling benzine water from earth, so why not?


7 posted on 08/30/2018 1:33:02 AM PDT by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: LibWhacker

What could they use the rocky material, once they have mined it?

Would it make great material for concrete or anything?


8 posted on 08/30/2018 1:50:19 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death by cults.)
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To: LibWhacker
And if the maneuver were done far enough from Earth—millions of kilometers, in most cases—it likely wouldn’t take much effort.

Sure but imagine the trucking fees to carry a load of rocks this far. Hell, the trucking for a load of gravel 30 miles is twice as much as the material.

9 posted on 08/30/2018 3:09:52 AM PDT by eartick (Stupidity is expecting the government that broke itself to go out and fix itself. Texan for TEXIT!)
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To: LibWhacker
Great when it works, a rather big oops when it doesn't.

10 posted on 08/30/2018 3:10:47 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: Jonty30
What could they use the rocky material, once they have mined it?

Radiation shielding for long term habitats.

11 posted on 08/30/2018 3:13:54 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: LibWhacker

Some people will risk looking like jerks just to get their names in print.


12 posted on 08/30/2018 4:06:45 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Cynicism is the only refuge in a world that is determined to eliminate itself.)
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To: LibWhacker

What could possibly go wrong? I mean like engineers and stuff.


13 posted on 08/30/2018 4:24:09 AM PDT by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: BitWielder1

No kidding

Maybe they should ‘catch’ these rocks with the moon instead of the earth. A mishap would be a bit less fatal.


14 posted on 08/30/2018 4:34:40 AM PDT by Pollard (If you don't understand what I typed, you haven't read the classics.)
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To: 867V309
if the diamond asteroid miners figure this out, I want in.

No you don't, bro. Do a little homework about diamonds. They are incredibly plentiful, even here on Earth. It is because DeBeers cornered the market and created an artificial scarcity that they are valuable.

15 posted on 08/30/2018 4:49:20 AM PDT by Lazamataz (On future maps, I suggest we remove the word "California" and substitute "Open-Air Asylum".)
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To: a fool in paradise
They want to collect water. On a planet that is 75% water.

The difference, though, is two-fold:

1) That water is not contaminated with salts, and

2) That water is already off the planet, so there is no requirement to expend incredible energy to get it out of the gravity well to get it to spacefaring humans.

16 posted on 08/30/2018 4:51:35 AM PDT by Lazamataz (On future maps, I suggest we remove the word "California" and substitute "Open-Air Asylum".)
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To: Jonty30

Hank Johnson fears this could lead to earth tipping over.


17 posted on 08/30/2018 5:10:13 AM PDT by pas
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

It’s the cure for global warming.


18 posted on 08/30/2018 7:27:56 AM PDT by Western Phil
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To: LibWhacker

Well, at least somebody is still reading Heinlein!

https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Harsh-Mistress-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0312863551#

The Moon miner-colonists revolt against their collectivist masters on earth, using just such a system that was created for ore retrieval.


19 posted on 08/30/2018 7:38:11 AM PDT by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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To: Pollard

GMTA. Was about to post exactly the same idea. A rounding error on aero braking a big space rock could kill all humans and could actually be a all life on earth extinction event. Plus water plus sunlight = fuel you don’t have to lug up out of our gravity well.


20 posted on 08/30/2018 7:44:02 AM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget (TRUMP TRAIN !!! Get the hell out of the way if you are not on yet because we don't stop for idiots)
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