Introduction

Your grandparents just saw on their black and white TV on their farm in Texas that scientists actually consider mining asteroids.

They wrote to you because they know you are their clever grandchild.

They asked you (and your friends in high school) to make a short video explaining to them the feasibility of mining asteroids.

You have to convince them that this idea is technically and financially feasible (if you believe so too) - otherwise convince them that you agree with them in thinking that this idea is not technically and financially feasible.

The Task

Make a short video presentation about the feasibility of mining asteroids.

The Process and Resources

Study proposed asteroid mining technologies.

• The Technical and Economic Feasibility of Mining the Near-Earth Asteroids: This paper reviews concepts for mining the Near-Earth Asteroids for supply of resources to future in-space industrial activities. It discusses a standard approach for carrying out Technical and Economic Feasibility Studies on proposals for asteroid resource recovery projects.
• Mining and processing an asteroid
• NEAR EARTH OBJECTS AS RESOURCES FOR SPACE INDUSTRIALIZATION - text document
• NEAR EARTH OBJECTS AS RESOURCES FOR SPACE INDUSTRIALIZATION - PDF document
• International Asteroid Mission: One of their main goals: Develop one scenario for an economically viable manned mission to extract and return asteroid resources from a near-Earth asteroid to the Earth-Moon system.

Develop the material for your presentation.

Practice giving your presentation.

Make a home-video of your team's presentation. Hand in the video for assessment by your teacher.

Your presentation should at least include the following:

• An explanation of the average mineral make up of asteroids.
• The value of these elements on the financial stock market.
• Proposed technical mining concepts.
• How material from asteroids could be used: on earth, in space hotels and for building moon bases.
• Your summary of whether this idea is feasible technically and financially.

Standards Addressed

Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy

The Physical Setting - The Universe - Grades 6 through 8

• Large numbers of chunks of rock orbit the sun. (like asteroids).

(3) Scientific processes. The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions. The student is expected to:

• (A) analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations (articles about how to mine asteroids), including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information

Synthesis

Repackage scientific asteroid mining techniques into a format for a different audience (your grandparents).

Evaluation

Form your own opinion about the feasibility of mining asteroids.

Conclusion

During this WebQuest you learned:

• The scientific/technical feasibility of asteroid mining techniques.

Evaluation

This WebQuest can be assessed using scientific research and presentation rubrics.

Here is a list of assessment rubrics

	Copyright Thralow, Inc, 2003.