AsterAnts

Dear Space Advocates, Capturing anAsterAnts 1 meter in diameter could be interesting scientifically and as a demonstration, but hardly economically significant. Solid material made of atoms (there are other kinds, in neutron stars, for examples) have densities that vary from 1 (meaning 1 kg/liter or 1 metric ton/cubic meter) for water ice to 7.9 for Iron and 22.5 for Iridium. So a 1 meter sphere of Iron would have a mass of about 4 tons. At 30 cents per pound on Earth's surface, you would have a whopping $ 24,000 worth of Iron. At $ 10,000 per pound for launching to low Earth orbit, if the robot sent after this AsterAnt weighs more that a pound, you will lose money. Even gold is only worth about $ 5,000 per pound (depending on the current market, thoughthere are other metals worthmore per gram), so there seems little hope of bringing back small quantities of minerals and making a profit. For large quantities, a 1 kilometer sphere ofiron would have a mass of about 4 billion tons, it would be different, but it is harder to move and land such objects. Maybe I havemissed some thing here? To follow up on my previous challenge to give presentations, and/or to find other ways to support our dreams, I would be glad to send electronic abstracts of presentations I give to anyone wanting to consider working up their own. I would also mail copies of the syllabus for my course, ISC 2074, The Colonization of Space, and one I have not taught in a few years, The Impact of Asteroids. I appreciate the efforts I know some of you are making, for example, to keep this channel of communication open. Sincerely, Jay Huebner at jhuebn@...