§ 1 Asteroids Near Earth -- Materials for Utilization

Asteroid Ida (56km x 24km x 21km) and its moonlet Dactyl, photographed by the NASA probe Galileo

Table of Contents:

§ 1.1 Overview -- utilization of asteroids near Earth

§ 1.2 Asteroids: What, where, how many

§ 1.2.1 Classifications based on locations
§ 1.2.2 Astrogeology theory and observation

§ 1.3 Meteorites -- samples of asteroids

§ 1.3.1 Origins of meteorites
§ 1.3.2 Meteorite classifications and compositions
§ 1.3.3 Finds, falls and burn-ups

§ 1.4 Telescopic spectroscopy -- analyzing asteroids' compositions from Earth telescopes

§ 1.5 Probes -- going on-site

§ 1.5.1 Past probes
§ 1.5.2 Present probes
§ 1.5.3 Officially proposed future probes
§ 1.5.4 Surface lander technologies

§ 1.6 Mining and processing an asteroid

§ 1.7 Earth impact by an asteroid -- prospects and effects

§ 1.8 New asteroids: discovering and cataloging asteroids

§ 1.9 References to other asteroid-related WWW sites

Solar Power Satellite (SPS) being produced from asteroidal materials. More than 99% of the mass of SPS's can be readily produced from asteroidal materials in the mid-term. (In reality, the asteroid would be bagged, not exposed, in order to prevent dirt from creating orbital debris. Also, it's more likely to be a chunk of an asteroid, or semi-processed material retrieved from an asteroid, not a complete asteroid.) The Solar Power Satellite concept is discussed in chapter 5. Source: SSI (Space Studies Institute) website at www.ssi.org

Roadmap to related topics:

§ Chapter 3:(XR) Transportation of asteroidal materials

§ Chapter 4:(XR) Industrial processing and manufacturing with asteroidal materials

§ Chapter 5:(XR) Space products and services from asteroidal materials

§ Section 8.1: (XR) A private, profitable near-term mission to a near-Earth asteroid

Back to PERMANENT - Home

Up to top

Forward to Asteroids Near Earth - Overview