As of this morning, the number of NEOs first surpassed the 1600 mark (c.f., http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Unusual.html):
* 122 Atens
* 728 Apollos
* 754 Amors

I attach below my note from 9/26, the date at which the number of NEOs first passed the 1500 mark.

Happy Thanksgiving. We should all give thanks for the LINEAR telescope, which accounts for 70% of new minor planet discoveries.

Ron
rmenich@...
09/26/2001 08:40 AM AST

Yes, I agree that this group should be large and diverse enough to discuss both Lunar and NEO options. And the points you make are fair. You may be right that lunar resource utilization scenarios are better, at least in the near term.

I guess one of my major points is that SSI and the folks who contribute to this list are quite familiar with the ideas of O'Neill, and O'Neill's major thrust was the lunar mass driver and utilization of Lunar resources. In part because of O'Neill's charisma and his book, and in part because of historical lack of knowledge regarding NEOs, lunar resource utilization studies are pretty well advanced relative to NEO utilization studies. Researchers have done analyses on lunar missions, oxygen production via various means, etc. NASA summer studies in the late '70s built on the O'Neill's lunar resource utilization ideas.

But there are now well over 30 times as many known NEOs as when O'Neill first formulated his space colony ideas, and there are over six and a half times as many known NEOs as when O'Neill died in 1992. And the number of known NEOs grows almost daily. AS OF THIS MORNING, the number of known NEOs surpassed the 1500 mark. There are now 1503 known NEOs, comprising 115 Atens, 684 Apollos, and 704 Amors ( c.f., http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Unusual.html ). I think that, were O'Neill alive today, he would be more balanced in comparing lunar and asteroidal resource utilization scenarios, and so would the downstream research that would stem from his charisma.

I do not oppose lunar resource utilization. I see the merits of proximity to Earth in terms of travel time and the time value of money, ability to use teleoperation, and the like. It's just terribly exciting to me that a new avenue for extraterrestrial resource utilization --- NEOs, the avenue that O'Neill only saw dimly because little was known about them in 1977 --- becomes more apparent every day.

Ron Menich

What. on earth are you talking about.

As of this morning, the number of NEOs first
surpassed the 1600 mark (c.f.,
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Unusual.html):
*
122 Atens
* 728 Apollos
* 754
Amors

I attach below my note from
9/26, the date at which the number of NEOs first
passed the 1500 mark.

Happy
Thanksgiving. We should all give thanks for the
LINEAR telescope, which accounts for 70% of new minor
planet
discoveries.

Ron

SIZE=2>rmenich@...

SIZE=2>09/26/2001 08:40 AM AST

SIZE=2>ssi_list@...

[ssi_list] AsterAnts --- past the 1500 mark

Yes, I agree that this group should be
large and diverse enough to discuss both Lunar and NEO
options. And the points you make are fair.
You may be right that lunar resource utilization
scenarios are better, at least in the near term.
SIZE=4>

I guess one of my major points
is that SSI and the folks who contribute to this list
are quite familiar with the ideas of O'Neill, and
O'Neill's major thrust was the lunar mass driver and
utilization of Lunar resources. In part because
of O'Neill's charisma and his book, and in part
because of historical lack of knowledge regarding
NEOs, lunar resource utilization studies are pretty
well advanced relative to NEO utilization studies.
Researchers have done analyses on lunar
missions, oxygen production via various means, etc.
NASA summer studies in the late '70s built on
the O'Neill's lunar resource utilization
ideas.

But there are
now well over 30 times as many known NEOs as when
O'Neill first formulated his space colony ideas, and
there are over six and a half times as many known NEOs
as when O'Neill died in 1992. And the number of
known NEOs grows almost daily. AS OF THIS
MORNING, the number of known NEOs surpassed the 1500
mark. There are now 1503 known NEOs,
comprising 115 Atens, 684 Apollos, and 704 Amors (
c.f.,
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Unusual.html>
). I think that, were O'Neill alive today, he
would be more balanced in comparing lunar and
asteroidal resource utilization scenarios, and so
would the downstream research that would stem from his
charisma.

I do not
oppose lunar resource utilization. I see the
merits of proximity to Earth in terms of travel time
and the time value of money, ability to use
teleoperation, and the like. It's just terribly
exciting to me that a new avenue for extraterrestrial
resource utilization --- NEOs, the avenue that O'Neill
only saw dimly because little was known about them in
1977 --- becomes more apparent every day.

Ron Menich

Don't forget the one Arjuna, an asteroid class of one which orbits mostly inside the Earth's orbit. That one is 1996XB27. Jay Huebner

As of this morning, the number of NEOs first surpassed the 1600 mark (c.f., http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Unusual.html):
* 122 Atens
* 728 Apollos
* 754 Amors

>
> What. on earth are you talking about.

Nothing on Earth! NEO is a Near-Earth Object, which includes 3 classes
of asteroids - the Aten's stay inside Earth's orbit (but come close to
it), the Amor's stay outside Earth's orbit (but come close) and the
Apollo asteroids cross Earth's orbit. Although by some definitions it
seems the Aten's are classified as Earth-crossing asteroids with average
orbit less than Earth's, and the Apollo's Earth-crossing ones with
average orbit greater. More info at:

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo.html

Arthur (apsmith@...