How asteroids can help us reach Mars

Harry Colvin
Earth Science

Crane, Rachel. "How Asteroids Can Help Us Reach Mars - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 19 Oct.        2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2015. 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/06/tech/asteroid-mining-nasa-mars-pioneers/index.html 

How asteroids can help us reach Mars

Ever since humans stepped feet on the moon, the next big step has being getting to Mars, with humans. A planet about 140 million miles away, it takes time, patience, and a lot of money to get there. Mars is believed to be the planet most similar to Earth, and believed to be the most habitual planet for humans. Scientists have recently come up with the idea of using asteroids to aid humans voyage to Mars. One of the problems that gets in the way of humans reaching Mars is that it takes so long. It takes approximately 6 months each way and it is very hard to have enough supplies on a space ship for 6 months. This is where asteroids come in handy. Scientists think that humans can go asteroid mining for supplies, including water, oxygen, precious metals, and other elements. These could be used for fuel and other support. However, this would be very hard to accomplish as asteroids are traveling very fast and one would have to drill into it while the asteroid is flying through space. There are a few companies that that think they could accomplish asteroid mining. These companies include Planetary Recourses and Deep Science Industries. There is also another possible bump in the road with asteroid mining. In 1966, the United Nations, which includes United States and 100 other countries, signed a treaty on outer space which says that countries cannot own territory in space. It is debatable whether asteroid mining would break this treaty or not. NASA is very fond of the idea of asteroid mining. NASA also wants to "lasso" an asteroid and put it in orbit around Earth, so scientists can get a better look at it. Jim Green, director of NASA planetary science, says, "asteroids are a hot topic" and that they are "a stepping stone to Mars." 

This topic of asteroid mining is very important to humanity. Getting to Mars would be a big step in our knowledge of space, whether its habitual or not. Asteroid mining could make it a lot easier and it might help humans step foot on Mars earlier than believed. Humans could learn a lot more about space if we reached Mars because we would have more accurate information and have first hand experience on the planet. 

This article written by Rachel Crane had many positives, and a couple negatives. One of the things that was done well in this article was that it described very well how asteroid mining would be done and what we would accomplish by it. It told us what minerals we would receive from an asteroid, including oxygen, water, metals, and other elements. One thing that Rachel Crane could have included in the article is what an asteroid specifically is. Although I was well educated on what an asteroid specifically is from class this year, I may not remember in 20 years, and I definitely did not know a couple years ago. Overall this article was very educational, and I did not only learn about the main topic, but also about other information and history about space.