From: Jeff Davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Sep 12 2002 - 18:52:18 MDT
Extropes,
Robert, Harvey, And spike, in order, wrote the
following:
>> Some of you folks may like this... A 50 day
orbit... If it turns out to be a small asteroid
orbiting the Earth, I wonder how much effort would be
required to move it into a closer orbit? Bradbury
> "Dibs!" Harvey Newstrom...
Dibs schmibs. If it is an asteroid that close in, it
is worth a cool fortune and belongs to the first one
to get there with the wherewithal to enforce her
claims of ownership. Man, that is an exciting
possibility. Think of what we could we do with a
biggie object free from any gravity well and only a
week out with current rocket technology. spike
----------------------
Following up on this story, I chanced to stumble on
this:
Near-Earth asteroid 3753 Cruithne
--Earth's curious companion--
at:
http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~wiegert/3753/3753.html
Cruithne, which is 3 miles across (4.8km), is in fact
a Trojan asteroid, and has an eccentric horseshoe
orbit around Earth which takes 770 years to complete.
It seems to me that this puppy may be a prime
candidate for your "capture and exploit" proposal.
What would it take to sequester this asteroid at an
earth-moon Lagrange point, or drop it into a 'proper'
orbit around Terra?
No "Dibs!", but I wouldn't mind a piece of the action.
Best, Jeff Davis
"Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
Ray Charles
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