Near Earth Objects - a resource for the 21st century

Hundreds of Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) asteroids whose orbits are
close to Earth's orbit exist. They spend part of their orbits between
0.983 and 1.3 astronomical units away from the Sun. Total mass is in
the trillions of tons of materials.

Some near-Earth asteroids' orbits intersect Earth's so they pose a
collision danger.

Near-Earth asteroids are comparatively easy to access for spacecraft
from Earth; in fact, some can be reached with much less fuel than it
takes to reach the Moon. This makes them an attractive target for
exploration.

Two near-Earth asteroids have already been visited by unpiloted
spacecraft: 433 Eros, by NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous probe,
and 25143 Itokawa, by the JAXA Hayabusa mission.

Near-Earth asteroids are a sub-class of near-Earth object.

I have described elsewhere the technology for anti-proton boosted
micro-fission triggers for micro-fusion pellets.

These pellets can be detonated in sizes around 1 tonne of TNT to many
megatons of TNT.

Shaping the fusion fuel - typically Li6D - allows shaping the shock
waves produced by the blast. Spherical patterns of fusion fuel
produce spherical shock waves. Rod patterns of fusion fuel entrain
pancake shaped regions in directed shock jets. Pancake shaped patter
of fusion fule entrain rod like regions in directed shock jets. .

The energy of the plast provides prompt production of ions streams
along the shock lines, entraining well defined quantities of material,
without appreciably heating the surrounding materials.

This allows the creation of well defined directed shock jets that use
the energy from the fusion material, the body of the asteroid to
impart delta vee to the remaining body of the asteroid.

Imparting as little as 200 meters per second (0.2 km/sec) delta vee to
these asteroids, can be guided around the moon in such a way as to
take up orbit around the moon, or take up orbit around the Earth, or
float in one of the Lagrange points between Earth and moon.

Retrieval times is substantially less than 4 years in all cases.

So, retrieving materials in this way is the quickest, easiest, lowest
cost, most direct, most profitable way to build up trillions of tonnes
of orbital infrastructure within the next decade - without the need to
mine the moon or develop a lunar infrastructure.

Here is how it is done;

1) Thousands of miniature fusion powered pulse units are made and
housed aboard a spacecraft, totalling less than 10 tonnes total mass
per asteroid retrieved.

2) These automated retrieval satellites are launched twice a month
over a 10 year period.

3) They each orbit a chosen satellite and their team - herders -
develop a recovery plan for the asteroid and carry it out - bringing
the asteroid into a stable orbit in the Earth-Moon system.

4) solar powered tele-robotic factories are sent to the asteroid, to
process the asteroid into useful materials. This builds up fuel
depots, vehicle stages, space habitats, and so forth. This is the
first stage.

5) expanding on the tele-robotic capabilities provides for commercial
development for export to Earth of some of the better situatied
asteroids. Power satellites are built on orbit from captured
asteroidal feedstock, that beam microwave and laser energy to
receivers on Earth. As capacities and income expand, rail guns or
some other mass driver technology, exports raw materials directly to
Earth guded to end user sites via GPS. This export starts with raw
materials like smelted metals, and moves quickly as capacity improves,
to industrial goods, finished goods, consumer goods. Pressure vessels
are built cheaply on orbit from captured feedstocks, permits raising
telerobotic farms and forests and provide habitats for explorers and
managers alike. Eventually a growing food and wood capacity provide
for export to Earth. Ultimately small cities of 20,000 to 150,000 are
built in airtight geodesic spheres. These cities are then collapsed
and driven to enter Earth's atmosphere. As the small towns descend,
through the sky, they self-erect, and float in like a hot air balloon
in the skies of Earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_n...segrity_sphere)

Powered by laser beams from space, and supplied with food, and
extracting water from the atmosphere, these cities provide housing and
tele-robot jobs for up to 3 billion people - transforming life on
Earth.

Allowing 3 years for micro-pulse and sapcecraft development, the
entire process could start with technology today, and we would have
thousands of Cloud Nine cities operate as aerial warehousing and
distribution and manufacturing centers for space based production in
15 years from today.

Ultimately, with abundant space based resources, along with efficient
laser beaming of infrared energy from orbit, laser powered propulsive
skin technology is developed on orbit, and billions of spacecraft are
sent to Earth to provide ballistic transport as well as easy access to
orbit. The destination of the orbiting spacecraft are space based
homes - space stations several thousand acres in area, owned
personally by individuals and families, and tended to by tele-robots
who hire people on a time-multiplex basis - to provide a wide range of
skils and capabilities - on each 'estate' - using labor very
efficiently.

By 2025 we could end poverty, war, pollution and privation for all
people. It requires the development of no new technologies or the
resolution of no unresolved problems.

William Mook