Asteroids—Space Colonies

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Description

Recent discoveries of water at the moon’s poles and on Mars have encouraged public institutions, such as NASA and the European Space Agency, as well as private companies, like SpaceX, to lead projects that will let us settle in these harsh, distant environments in the near future. This episode explores the challenges of setting up an orbital space colony or a settlement on an asteroid, such as the need for habitats, storage facilities, workspaces, renewable energy sources, food production spaces and equipment. Asteroids have untapped resources, and already several mining companies are developing technologies to provide better and more profitable access to these resources, starting with Near Earth Objects (asteroids orbiting close to our planet) and moving to bodies in the Main Asteroid Belt (between Mars and Jupiter) in the coming years.