Post by Radrook Admin on Jun 15, 2022 12:25:41 GMT -5
Asteroids-A new El Dorado?
The attainment of wealth has always been a huge motivator for human efforts. The Spaniards were ones who very poignantly illustrate this. They would search far and wide for riches. One of those searches was in relation to the legendary city of El Dorado, literally, the Golden One. The video discusses the possibility that asteroids could become the equivalent of the ancient El Dorado by luring humans into the attempted exploitation of all the mineral wealth that these heavenly bodies contain.
Multiple types of asteroids have been identified but the three main types would include the C-type, S-type, and M-type asteroids:
C-type asteroids have a high abundance of water which is not currently of use for mining but could be used in an exploration effort beyond the asteroid. Mission costs could be reduced by using the available water from the asteroid.
C-type asteroids also have high amounts of organic carbon, phosphorus, and other key ingredients for fertilizer which could be used to grow food.
S-type asteroids carry little water but are more attractive because they contain numerous metals, including nickel, cobalt, and more valuable metals, such as gold, platinum, and rhodium. A small 10-meter S-type asteroid contains about 650,000 kg (1,433,000 lb) of metal with 50 kg (110 lb) in the form of rare metals like platinum and gold.
M-type asteroids are rare but contain up to 10 times more metal than S-types
A class of easily retrievable objects (EROs) was identified by a group of researchers in 2013. Twelve asteroids made up the initially identified group, all of which could be potentially mined with present-day rocket technology. Of 9,000 asteroids searched in the NEO database, these twelve could all be brought into an Earth-accessible orbit by changing their velocity by less than 500 meters per second (1,800 km/h; 1,100 mph). The dozen asteroids range in size from 2 to 20 meters (10 to 70 ft).
C-type asteroids have a high abundance of water which is not currently of use for mining but could be used in an exploration effort beyond the asteroid. Mission costs could be reduced by using the available water from the asteroid.
C-type asteroids also have high amounts of organic carbon, phosphorus, and other key ingredients for fertilizer which could be used to grow food.
S-type asteroids carry little water but are more attractive because they contain numerous metals, including nickel, cobalt, and more valuable metals, such as gold, platinum, and rhodium. A small 10-meter S-type asteroid contains about 650,000 kg (1,433,000 lb) of metal with 50 kg (110 lb) in the form of rare metals like platinum and gold.
M-type asteroids are rare but contain up to 10 times more metal than S-types
A class of easily retrievable objects (EROs) was identified by a group of researchers in 2013. Twelve asteroids made up the initially identified group, all of which could be potentially mined with present-day rocket technology. Of 9,000 asteroids searched in the NEO database, these twelve could all be brought into an Earth-accessible orbit by changing their velocity by less than 500 meters per second (1,800 km/h; 1,100 mph). The dozen asteroids range in size from 2 to 20 meters (10 to 70 ft).