A pair of NASA astronauts has unveiled a design for an innovative space tug that could one day save the world by nudging a potentially threating asteroid out of the Earth's path.
A former American astronaut argues that NASA should shift its focus to asteroids, both to defend against impacts and also a stepping stone to space expansion.
Space Experts at a recent roundtable at the Colorado School of Mines argued that a "miner" breakthrough is needed to develop and utilize the resources of space, be they from asteroids, the Moon or Mars. The solar system is a heaven-sent treasure trove -- a bounty, ready and waiting, of metals and materials that can fortify humankind's outward reach into the cosmos.
Harvesting asteroids -- for everything from platinum to oxygen to water -- has long been the stuff of science fiction. Jo?l Glenn Brenner investigates the efforts to make it a profitable fact.
Mark Whittington argues for a property-rights approach to defending the earth against asteroids. He begins by noting that we can't rely on governments because the threat of an asteroid collision is too infitesimal to warrant an immediate and sustained response from the government. His solution is for the world community to grant property rights to those individuals who can detect and deal with any earth-crossing asteroids. He argues that the market value of the asteroid's minerals would be enough of an incentive to encourage private individuals to help defend the earth.
Unfortunately, his idea ignores geopolitical realities that surround resources that belong to the 'common heritage of mankind' (see the debate over deep seabed mining) and it fails to establish an incentive for individuals to deal with asteroids that really will threaten the earth. The slow moving and safe asteroids will be picked clean in his scheme. Additionally, some scholars argue that the development of an asteroid mining industry might even compound the threat of an accidental or intentional asteroid collision with the earth (see Daniel Duedney, 1983).