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A New Fleet Of Robot Asteroid Prospectors Will Launch By 2015, 1/22/2013, http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/new-fleet-cubesat-asteroid-prospectors-will-fly-near-earth-space-rocks-2015

Charles F. Bolden Jr., Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

It was recently reported that a new company called Deep Space Industries (DSI) is planning a series of missions to mine asteroids as early as 2015. DSI is the 2nd company to unveil such plans, the first being competitor Planetary Resources (PRI), which formed in the spring of 2012 and receives funding from such high-profile personalities as filmmaker James Cameron, the founders and CEO of Google, and the son of former presidential candidate Ross Perot.

DSI’s ultimate goal is to mine asteroids for materials which can fuel their “MicroGravity Foundry”, which is essentially a 3D printer in space. 3D printers are capable of producing three dimensional metal objects by laying down successive layers of material and are already in use in a number of industries.1 DSI claims that by placing this technology in the proximity of asteroids, it could serve as a factory for manufacturing parts for communication satellites, space stations and future space missions. The company also states that asteroid mining could provide a source of fuel for satellites.

DSI intends to achieve its objective by beginning with a series of surveillance missions planned for 2015-2020. These will begin with two sets of small satellites, which will study the chemical compositions of Near-Earth Asteroids (ie, asteroids with orbits that pass within ~195 million km of the Sun and may therefore be capable of intersecting Earth’s path2 ). The next set of missions includes a fleet of 70-pound unmanned space crafts (called “Dragonflies”), which will fly to selected asteroids and extract 60 to 150 pounds of space rock, then return the samples to Earth for detailed analysis. (NASA’s former space shuttle had a carrying capacity of 32,000 lbs, so the retrieval of 150 pounds of cargo is small by comparison)3.

I am bringing this news to your attention because I feel that the public should be deeply concerned about asteroid missions being in the hands of private organizations. The extinction of the dinosaurs shows us that asteroids have the potential to cause massive damage to our planet and to threaten the survival of the human race. Attempts to land on and mine asteroids should therefore be treated with the utmost caution. Of particular concern is the possibility that a mining expedition could lead to the altering of an asteroid’s orbit, sending it on a possible collision course with other spacecraft or Earth itself. Even a collision with another asteroid is potentially hazardous as the debris could be sent on a deadly path toward Earth.

With such grave consequences at stake, the most prudent course of action is to entrust the supervision of asteroid missions to publicly-funded, government-regulated organizations such as NASA or the European Space Agency (ESA). Not only do these agencies have the proven expertise to handle such pioneering efforts, but they are also subject to rigorous safety requirements. Certainly, private companies could be allowed to provide funding and resources, to propose future endeavours and to receive a share of the proceeds, but the direction of the missions should be left in the hands of agencies which are more accountable to the general public. Given that commercial activity in space is clearly becoming a reality, organizations such as NASA need to appeal to their countries’ governments to be granted a supervisory role in all futures missions to mine asteroids.

1 Wikipedia contributors. "3D printing." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 Sep. 2013. Web. 6 Sep. 2013.

2 Wikipedia contributors. "Near Earth object." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 Aug. 2014. Web. 8 Sep. 2014.

3 Wikipedia contributors. "Space Shuttle." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 6 Sep. 2013. Web. 6 Sep. 2013.