Digest Number 61

MW: There must be-- millions (if not billions)-- of
small asterioids weighing between 1000 to 10,000
tonnes that could easily be transported by automated
Drexler Lightsails into Marsian orbit for processing.
Such small asteroids may have to be located by
telescopes on the surface of the moon which can track
the sky and absorb light for up to 14 nights.

But as far as sending humans out to the asteroid
belt, it is obvious that the first place they should
go would be to Ceres, the largest of the asteroids.
Because of its large size (more than 2.7 million
square kilometers of surface area) and its extremely
low gravity, Ceres may well be the most valuable piece
of real estate in the solar system.

Marcel F. Williams
1/3/00

--- "Clements, Robert"