Comments on: Retrieving Asteroids Near and Far

By: Nat Ng

Nat Ng — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 05:37:47 +0000

This may be a stupid question, and rather late, but would it be possible to use the gravity of Mars or one of its moons to slingshot a near-Mars asteroid towards Earth, turning it into a near-Earth asteroid? (Of course conventional propulsion would be needed to propel the target asteroid towards Mars in the first place, but in theory we would need a lot less propellant to get it to Mars than to Earth.)
For that matter, have there been any studies done on whether it’s possible to aerobrake an asteroid-sized mass through Earth’s ionosphere without messing up global communications, causing accidental extinction events, etc.?

By: The Type of Asteroid to Mine, Part 2 - Philip Metzger

The Type of Asteroid to Mine, Part 2 - Philip Metzger — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 04:55:42 +0000

[…] the protoplanets were forming in the asteroid main belt, some grew bigger than others. When they got bigger, they got hotter. Just as two cold people […]

By: Philip Metzger

Philip Metzger — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 01:48:34 +0000

Michael, that’s a really good approach. You get the most momentum change for a fixed energy budget by throwing more mass more slowly, so mass drivers are better than rockets for this purpose.

By: Michael Herron

Michael Herron — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 23:56:48 +0000

Why not use a solar powered mass driver to propell an asteroid? No propellant needed. Admittedly, a hypothetical way to propel, but not very technically challenging?

By: Diwakar Raj

Diwakar Raj — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 09:43:34 +0000

In future we will be able to track asteroids so that collision with the Earth can be avoid

By: matisidro

matisidro — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 06:42:10 +0000

Great series of articles, and great seeing some real figures to put this into perspective and show what the challenges are. It also made me think that would be a pretty cool video game to develop (space adventures, economy, strategy, mining resources, etc) !

By: novaknancy

novaknancy — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:27:05 +0000

Phil, thanks for explaining this awesome space venture in simple and entertaining terms. I am hoping the mining of asteroids becomes a reality in my life time. I look forward to your next blog.