Episode 26 - Martin Elvis on the Science of Asteroid Mining

Released: 2 November 2015

Duration: 53 minutes, 33 seconds

 

Host Paul Carr interviews Dr. Martin Elvis of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Martin Elvis has a substantial background in high energy astronomy and astrophysics, studying quasars and other huge, highly energetic phenomena deep in the universe. He tells us why he has turned his attention to asteroid mining, and explains his model for determining how many asteroids we should be going after, and how we can find them. There is a case for much better surveillance of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) using space based infrared cameras. Today's sophisticated solid-state Gamma Ray and X-ray spectrometers can give us quick spectra that determine elemental composition. Also, the Earth often has temporary moons, but catching then in the act is tricky.

 

Links:

Martin Elvis - How Many Ore Bearing Asteroids?

Martin Elvis and Thomas Esty - How Many Assay Probes to Find One Ore Bearing Asteroid?

The NEOCAM sensor

NEOCAM (.pdf file)

NASA - General Information on Asteroids

The NEAR mission

Planetary Resources: Asteroid Composition

The Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

 

Season 2 - Episode 8: Incoming Asteroid!

Season 1 - Episode 8: Cosmik Debris

 

Credits:

Host and Producer: Paul Carr

Guest: Martin Elvis

Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, Erika Lloyd

Postproduction: Auphonic.com

Hosting: Libsyn.com

 

The spoken content of this podcast is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. All music is performed with the permission of the artists.