Asteroids as Gas Stations in Space

Scientists have discovered that we can use asteroids as gas stations in space. This is because some asteroids contain water, in the form of ice, other frozen gases, and metals. By mining these raw materials, they could provide the air, water, fuel and other consumables necessary to support permanent settlements in space. This is important because carrying water into space is very expensive and requires large rockets that consume a massive amount of fuel. Instead of this, it is much more practical and efficient to use the resources already in space to overcome these problems. By using asteroids as gas stations it would ultimately allow people to travel further at a lower cost.

Asteroids also contain metals. From the asteroids that have fallen to Earth, we already know that they contain iron, rhodium, iridium, rhenium, osmium, ruthenium, palladium, germanium, gold, and platinum. This supports the theory that these metals exist in asteroids, they just have to be found and mined in space.

Currently, mining and living in space seems like a real possibility with the availability of water, fuel and high value elements. However, there is still a lot of technology that still needs to be developed before off-Earth mining can become a reality. To learn more about this, go to the website provided below.

http://www.factor-tech.com/space/9847-off-earth-mining-the-challenge-of-turning-asteroids-into-gas-stations-in-space/