Season 3 Episode 2 - Martin Elvis on the Science of Asteroid Mining - a podcast by Paul Carr
from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Released: 2 November 2015
Duration: 53 minutes, 33 seconds
Host Paul Carr interviews Dr. Martin Elvis of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Martin Elvis has a substantial background in high energy astronomy and astrophysics, studying quasars and other huge, highly energetic phenomena deep in the universe. He tells us why he has turned his attention to asteroid mining, and explains his model for determining how many asteroids we should be going after, and how we can find them. There is a case for much better surveillance of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) using space based infrared cameras. Today's sophisticated solid-state Gamma Ray and X-ray spectrometers can give us quick spectra that determine elemental composition. Also, the Earth often has temporary moons, but catching then in the act is tricky.
Links:
Martin Elvis - How Many Ore Bearing Asteroids?
Martin Elvis and Thomas Esty - How Many Assay Probes to Find One Ore Bearing Asteroid?
NEOCAM (.pdf file)
NASA - General Information on Asteroids
Planetary Resources: Asteroid Composition
The Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Season 2 - Episode 8: Incoming Asteroid!
Season 1 - Episode 8: Cosmik Debris
Credits:
Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Guest: Martin Elvis
Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, Erika Lloyd
Postproduction: Auphonic.com
Hosting: Libsyn.com
The spoken content of this podcast is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. All music is performed with the permission of the artists.
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Further podcasts by Paul Carr
Website of Paul Carr