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An international space research study, which includes researchers from Western University, is studying how to extract water from an asteroid 200 million miles away on a mission that could be a prelude to the expansion of human activity in the solar system.
Asteroid Bennu Photo by Photo supplied
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An international space research study, which includes researchers from Western University, is studying how to extract water from an asteroid 200 million miles away on a mission that could be a prelude to the expansion of human activity in the solar system.
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The Western team, in partnership with other universities and MDA, a Brampton space technology company, is studying the feasibility of asteroid mining in space and the emerging political law in this regard, focusing on the asteroid. Bennu, according to Ariyaan Talukder, a second researcher. mechanical engineering student at Western.
“On Earth, we have a limited amount of resources, but there are a lot of rare resources on asteroids,” Talukder said, adding that there are about $ 330 trillion in water in Bennu.
Talukder is tasked with designing an anchor to secure a drilling unit to the asteroid and a device to grab blocks, a complex task given NASA’s recent discovery that Bennu’s surface looks like a well of plastic balls.
The discovery was found in images taken from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid in 2020.
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Discovered in 1999, the half-mile-long asteroid is considered potentially dangerous to Earth, with the potential to collide with the planet in centuries to come.
Composed of 10 percent water, potential uses include satellite power, space agriculture irrigation, as well as a rocket propellant, he said.
Talukder said his research has concluded that the color of the rocks in Bennu is significant.
“We’ve been able to identify that shiny rocks actually have more water content and we’ve been trying to plot the best places to land and pick up those light-colored blocks,” he said. “We’re trying to find our best location to land.”
The first few months of research were devoted to “intense research on technologies we could use to get to mine and back,” Talukder said.
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So far, they have presented some of their research on what is called the Khepri asteroid mining mission at the Canadian Space Agency’s exploration workshop, he said.
The team, which includes professors and students from Western’s engineering, earth sciences and law departments, is working on its final report and will complete its work next month.
Talukder predicts that in the next ten years countries may begin to take advantage of asteroids “to help their economy.”
“There is a very high technical preparation that could be used in an asteroid mining mission,” he said.
A final report is expected on August 18 and will include models and simulations.
hrvers@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/HeatheratLFP
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