Rosetta spacecraft has close encounter with E-class asteroid
Rescue Shuttle Atlantis getting ready to roll back
NASA's Pluto probe hits 1000 days in space
Carnegie Mellon to test robotic lunar prospector in Hawaii
British X-ray camera set to launch on India's Chandrayaan-1
Argentina joinsVenezuela in reaching out to Russia for Space Program assistance
ESA looking to develop independentcrew return vehicle
Edit: Whoops! A day late. As a consolation prize,
Asteroid 2008 TC3 will become meteor 2008 TC3 when it hits the Earth's atmosphere.
However, 2008 TC3 is only a few meter across and will burn up in the atmosphere, creating an impressive fireball. It's expected to enter the atmosphere at quarter to three in the morning GMT over Sudan.
As an added comfort, 2008 TC3 was only discovered less than 24 hours ago, not even enough time to send up roughnecks with mining equipment and secret space shuttles.
Now according to some research, to get to LEO, you'd need a delta v of about 10. From there to the Moon is another 6 km/s delta v. From LEO to the know NEOs (Near Earth Objects), the closest are just under 4 km/s delta v. Departing delta v from the NEO is miniscule b/c of its low gravity. This brings up an interesting option. If you're intending to go the Moon, and you need things from the asteroids (volatiles), wouldn't it be wise to set up a concurrent base on an NEO? They are easier to reach from Earth, have things we need on both Earth and the Moon and are very easy to ship from. No need to launch lunar iron to construction sites in orbit if you can get it from the asteroids. No need to haul water from earth to the Moon if you can extract it from a carbonaceous chondrite nearby. Initial capital costs would be higher but how long would it take for that initial investment to pay off?
Cosmic link to precious metals: study
Rare, precious metals may owe their presence in Earth's upper crust to a bombardment of the infant planet by asteroids billions of years ago, according to a study unveiled on Monday.
Gerhard Schmidt from the University of Mainz, western Germany, carried out a 12-year investigation into impact sites left by meteorites, analysing the soil for traces of these precious metals, which are called highly siderophile elements (HSE).
Metals in the HSE group include gold, platinum, palladium, iridium and ruthenium.
Schmidt compared these with samples from Earth's mantle and crust; from Martian meteorites that have been found on Earth; and from analysis of HSE-rich rocks, brought back by the Apollo missions, found at impact sites on the Moon.
The startling similarities point to a "cosmochemical source" for terrestrial HSE, he said in a press release.
He calculates that around 160 large, metal-rich asteroids in the order of 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter would have been enough to provide the concentrations of HSE we see today.
Schmidt was scheduled to present his work at the European Planetary Science Congress, taking place this week in the German town of Muenster.
Russian authorities have warned that the incoming asteroid 99942 Apophis looms as the largest threat to civilization since Bruce and the Chin blew up a Texas sized asteroid with a green nuke. Apophis is scheduled to pass within a tenth of the distance between the Earth and the Moon in 2029 and possibly even collide with the Earth on its next visit in 2036. The Russians imply that an international body administered through the UN similar to WHO and other groups would be acceptable to them.
With every spacefaring nation racing to set up outposts on the Moon, Apophis in my opinion represents a huge opportunity. The asteroid passes inside cis-lunar space twice within the next thirty years. Everyone on the Moon and in orbit is going the need cheap access to what the asteroid contains. Specifically: volatiles. According to researchers at MIT, Apophis is an LL chondrite. That makes it an ordinary chondrite with a very low iron level. Apophis would be a good source of metals and volatiles for any space outpost.
Consider the size of Apophis and this is a windfall. It’s already in orbit. No need to boost from Earth’s surface. If I was finished with school, I’d be doing the cost-benefit analysis on moving Apophis to L-4 of L-5.
Although it’s an older post, this article by SpaceWorks Engineering, a local Atlanta company, outlines the composition of Apophis.
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