Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets
Encyclopedia
Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets is a book by John S. Lewis
which discusses the development of interplanetary space within our solar system
.
Lewis makes a prediction that the abundant natural resource
s of the solar system, including effectively-limitless solar energy, could support a vast civilization of 1016 people. He argues that shortage of resources is "...an illusion born of ignorance."
Lewis calculated the value of M-type
asteroid 3554 Amun
at US$
20 trillion: US$8 trillion worth of iron and nickel, US$6 trillion worth of cobalt, and US$6 trillion in platinum-group metals. Since the book was published, the value of platinum
, for example, has tripled.
John S. Lewis
John S. Lewis is a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. His interests in the chemistry and formation of the solar system and the economic development of space have made him a leading proponent of turning potentially hazardous near-Earth...
which discusses the development of interplanetary space within our solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
.
Lewis makes a prediction that the abundant natural resource
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
s of the solar system, including effectively-limitless solar energy, could support a vast civilization of 1016 people. He argues that shortage of resources is "...an illusion born of ignorance."
Lewis calculated the value of M-type
M-type asteroid
M-type asteroids are asteroids of partially known composition; they are moderately bright . Some, but not all, are made of nickel-iron, either pure or mixed with small amounts of stone. These are thought to be pieces of the metallic core of differentiated asteroids that were fragmented by impacts,...
asteroid 3554 Amun
3554 Amun
3554 Amun is an M-type Aten asteroid and a Venus-crosser. It was discovered on 4 March 1986 by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker at Mount Palomar Observatory. Its estimated diameter is 2.5 kilometers, making it one of the smallest known M-type asteroids.Amun was once considered metallic, based on its...
at US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
20 trillion: US$8 trillion worth of iron and nickel, US$6 trillion worth of cobalt, and US$6 trillion in platinum-group metals. Since the book was published, the value of platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
, for example, has tripled.
See also
- The Millennial Project by space advocateSpace advocacySpace advocacy can be described as the general position supporting, pleading or arguing for the idea or cause of space exploration and settlements...
Marshall SavageMarshall SavageMarshall Thomas Savage is an advocate of space travel who wrote The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps and founded the Living Universe Foundation, which was designed to make plans for stellar exploration over the next 1,000 years.... - The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We MustThe Case For MarsThe Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must is a nonfiction science book by Robert Zubrin, first published in 1996....
by space advocate Robert ZubrinRobert ZubrinRobert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of the manned exploration of Mars. He was the driving force behind Mars Direct—a proposal intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission... - The High Frontier: Human Colonies in SpaceThe High Frontier: Human Colonies in SpaceThe High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space is a 1976 book by Gerard K. O'Neill, a road map for what the United States might do in outer space after the Apollo program, the drive to place a man on the Moon. It envisions large manned habitats in the Earth-Moon system, especially near stable...
by Gerard O'NeillGerard O'NeillGerard Kitchen O'Neill was an American physicist and space activist. As a faculty member of Princeton University, he invented a device called the particle storage ring for high-energy physics experiments. Later, he invented a magnetic launcher called the mass driver...
- Space advocacySpace advocacySpace advocacy can be described as the general position supporting, pleading or arguing for the idea or cause of space exploration and settlements...
- Space technologySpace technologySpace technology is technology that is related to entering, and retrieving objects or life forms from space."Every day" technologies such as weather forecasting, remote sensing, GPS systems, satellite television, and some long distance communications systems critically rely on space infrastructure...
- Space colonizationSpace colonizationSpace colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time, there are many proposals and speculations about the first space colony...
- Solar power satellite
- Asteroid miningAsteroid miningAsteroid mining refers to the possibility of exploiting raw materials from asteroids and planetoids in space, including near-Earth objects. Minerals and volatiles could be mined from an asteroid or spent comet to provide space construction material , to extract water and oxygen to sustain the lives...
- Space elevatorSpace elevatorA space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...