Asteroid use

Al Globus wrote:

> In the discussion of safely moving many small masses vs one large mass
> into the Earth-Moon system:
>
>> The other problem is your
>> small masses (relatively) will be coming with great frequency, one
>> per day, one per hour, ten per hour, a convoy of a hundred? My
>> large
>> mass would be only once in maybe a decade or maybe even longer for a
>>
>> large mass. Yours is hard to keep track of, mine is easy. Bottom
>> line, big is safe, small is a potential weapon.
>>
>> Where have I gone wrong?
>>
>
> Below a certain size threshold things burn up in the atmosphere or
> have negligable effect on the ground. We are bombarded by small rocks
> constantly, every day. If you move small pay loads with large solar
> sails, the atmosphere protects earth just fine. Of course, orbital
> space settlements don't have such protection and would be vulnerable
> to small payloads. Like every society on earth, some form of defense
> would be necessary.
>
> --
> Al Globus
>

Greeting and welcome Al,

Yes you are exactly right, we are hit by small masses all the time and
suffer no ill effect but they are all natural masses. When any space
mission, other than the shuttle, returned they do so in small craft that
are only a few metres across, about the same size as the rocks you are
talking about. Now they only manage this by the use of heat shields but
given that any cargo could be protected in the same way. Now before you
decide that Im running a panic, I also am firmly of the opinion that
even this is just a can be over come with a little thought. We only
need to have something like the current air traffic control and open
examination at both ends, the equivalent of end user certificates and
customs bonds. This kind of scrutiny will make it hard for people to
make surprise attacks. You could refuse to allow shipment direct to LEO
and have the end user take delivery in Lunar orbit and then make the
final transfer themselves. All of this is of course predicated on most
nations/groups having access to orbit, as I have said before if only one
group or at the most two, then the situation is totally different. If
you have a single group controlling access to the resources available in
space then it is a short step to total control of world affairs. While
that may sound dramatic it is a real possibility, I dont mean some
crazy with a Napoleon complex but a far more subtle thing, controlling
the price of metals and energy to manipulate how a nation responds to a
problem or to precipitate a problem. Imagine OPEC with control of oil,
electricity, mining and communications. Scary thought but put the
ability to get to orbit in the hands of many and it is like OPEC trying
to dictate oil price when 90% of countries are self-sufficient. In
space matters I like to think the more the merrier.
I read your paper and I saw a write up in a magazine, the January
edition of New Scientist, it was quoting Steven Curtis (sorry I cant
call up the paper again at the moment and dont recall the other names
on it) but it sounded a lot like your paper, are they the same project?
Good luck with it in any case, I liked the sound of it.

Darren Brown