Developing A Way To Study Asteroids

The asteroid impact extinction theory began in 1980 with Luis and Walter Alvarez, a father and son team. They theorized that an asteroid struck the Earth at the close of the Cretaceous period, causing devastating effects and mass

The history of our solar system is one topic that scientists were able to gain information on due to the Philae mission. “A Success in Space”, an article that reveals the story of the Philae one mission, states, “Researchers consider comets the remains of the ancient solar system.” (Keady 5) This quote shows that comets can be a key to finding more about the remains of the solar system from long ago. Ashley Yeager, the author of the article “Comet probe may shed light on Earth’s past” wrote, “By studying these hunks of rock, dust and ice, scientists hope to better understand the early history of the solar system—including Earth’s early years.” (8) This example proves that scientists hope that comets can help them assimilate more information on the history of our

NASA is a key player in our technological growth. It leads in innovating technology development in both public and private industries across the board from aviation to zoology. In add-on, increasing the space program funding may increase our defense. As it will be exceedingly important that America innovates its space program for defense, from telecommunication to aviation. Likewise, what if an asteroid comes in our proximity and threatens our existence?, we ought to have something

These impact prevention techniques and detection programs all come out of NASA, and it is crucial for NASA to stay funded to prevent disasters from striking and killing all life on Earth.

On the same flight up into space the Americans had gotten some of the first pictures of space. Although the pictures are black and white and a bit blurry, you can still see the earth, the clouds and some landmasses.

Imagine all of the understanding of deep space, living on Mars, origins predicting, and competition in the current world. Datas evidence shows there are more and more asteroids in the past years and if we do not know anything about this our world would not be prepared. NASA wants to fund learning so we can examine the asteroids and collect data also, the world wants to know more about space and what is out there. According to the Tunguska Meteor Impact “At that moment there was a bang in the sky and a mighty crash… The crash was followed by a noise like stones falling from the sky, or of guns firing. The Earth trembled”. From this huge impact meteor, we can learn from this big effect it had and we have learn a lot about it from our technology and

We have to monitor some of these questionable occurrences that may occur so we can act appropriately to protect ourselves. NASA has provided us with huge amounts of information about potentially dangerous phenomenon that happens everyday in our atmosphere. We now know that the sun emits hazardous UV (ultraviolet) rays that can cause skin damage and skin cancer. Sunscreen shields and protects our skin from these UV rays. Satellites and other spacecraft launched by NASA have uncovered many secrets of Earth and the universe. They have also detected asteroids and meteors that may come in contact with Earth, and we have acted accordingly to eliminate these

Many people including myself believe this because it could help our economy. According to NASA.Gov “the meteorites could contain precious metals, minerals, and even new elements that could be added to the periodic table” They could be used on Earth with trade value. This would give The U.S a humongous boost around 10 billion dollars to our GDP (gross domestic product value). The asteroid

There are constant discoveries about objects that reside in the universe. This research paper will discuss one of those objects, the dwarf planet Ceres, and will explain exactly why scientists are so interested in this dwarf planet. Inhabiting the space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is Ceres, the largest in the asteroid belt. The discovery of Ceres was in early 1801 by an Italian astronomer named Giuseppe Piazzi. At the time, Piazzi classified Ceres – which he named after the Roman goddess of harvest and corn, as a planet. After further inspection however, Ceres was demoted to being classified as a “dwarf planet which accounts for nearly one third of the asteroid belts mass.”1 The closest dwarf planet to the Sun is Ceres and, as it

The NY Times article, “NASA Aims at an Asteroid Holding Clues to the Solar System’s Roots” discusses the Osiris-Rex’s mission, which is to “fly to an asteroid, grab some of the rock and bring it back to earth, where scientists will study some of the pristine ingredients that went into the making of the solar system, including possible the building clocks of life.” Osiris-Rex is a spacecraft that is being sent by NASA to retrieve organic material from the asteroid Bennu. The Osiris-Rex is short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer. Origin describes where the spacecraft will go to get the sample. Spectral Interpretation will identify what part of the asteroid we are collecting the sample from. Resource Identification describes what is needed to make Osiris-Rex a successful mission. Security will keep

Deep Space Industries is building “autonomous spacecraft that can extract minerals from asteroids” (Tynan) expected to launch this year. John Brophy the co-leader of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory claims mining space is “feasible using technology available in this decade” (David), however the feasibility is dependent three advancements; ground based observations, propulsions system, and human presence. Prospectors know asteroids contain large amounts of valuable resource, however they have faced challenges pinpointing mining locations. Improving ground based observation will allow prospectors to target asteroids and mine more efficiently. Perhaps the most challenging technological advancements is developing a “sufficiently powerful solar electric propulsion system” (Leonard), necessary to bring an asteroid back to lunar orbit. The last important advancement necessary to conduct space mining missions is the human presence in lunar orbit to “investigate and exploit this resource” (Leonard). Developing technology to access and mine asteroids is crucial the space mining missions. The three conceptual advancements are an important in developing technology to gathering resources from space. Technological advancements mean space mining is a realistic goal within the next century, promising a bright future for humans on earth. Additionally, the technology developed to mine asteroids will

The asteroid belt is a huge orbit of asteroids. Its located between mars and jupiter. Most of our solar systems asteroids are in the asteroid belt, but some escaped or got knocked out. Asteroids come in all different shapes and sizes, most are the size of a pebble. Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea are the four biggest asteroids. Ceres is actually considered a dwarf planet. Some people think that if you combine all the asteroids it would create a small, rocky, planet, but astronomers say it would make a planet smaller then earths moon. Suprizingly the asteroids are pretty far apart. If you stood on a asteroid then you would barely be able to see any other asteroids.

Apollo asteroids cross the Earth’s orbit, although most of its orbit is outside of the Earth’s.

The issue of asteroid mining used to seem out-of-this-world metaphorically and literally, but today, the issue is slowly becoming reality. As technology and research progress, the pros and cons of asteroid mining have become more apparent. One issue is the way minerals and metals from asteroids will be treated on the market because first, a company or industry must “claim” an asteroid as theirs for mining. Therefore the questions start appearing, is that ethical, moral, legal? By looking at the gasoline extraction industry and comparing it to the asteroid mining industry, hopefully it will give humanity a glimpse of what could happen if asteroid mining ensues.

Since ancient times, the universe had captivated people’s imagination and curiosity. With the limitation on technology, early sky watchers were only capable of classifying objects they observed as either a star or a planet. During the twentieth century, with advancement in telescopes to see further into space with more accurate details, scientists were able to find numerous stars and planet like objects within the solar system. Scientists had no trouble classifying objects such as Uranus and Neptune as planets. However, the real trouble came when they discovered a planetary object called Ceres. Objects like Ceres and Pluto behaved similarly to regular planets. Because of the limitations on the technology at the time, it was very difficult