True future of humanities exploration of our universe in my opinion.

Asteroids are the true future. Heck some are as small as football fields and could be coverted into ships/colonies with minimal supply from earth.

In fact we could probably build the first universe exploration vehicle with the tech we have today if we hollow out an asteroid put enough nuclear material on it to supply power for thos living in it/on it. The just send it toward the closest sun like star. Sure it would take a long long time and many generations of humans to reach the next star, but I would certainly volunteer to be the first on such a trip, knowing I would die without ever seeing the end. If new tech is developed in the mean time we could just send faster ships out to catch up with the colony and either pick em up and take them to there next stop or just transmit the new tech to them and let them build it and use it.

Going to the moon is not really nessasary for NASA. Maybe the military or private sector can benifit from such a trip but not NASA. In fact the rovers are proving that sending man to mars may just be a waste of money. I used to be a huge advocate for going to mars (humans) but now Im seeing how conquering the asteroids is truely the future of mankind. The sun will go boom someday and we have no proof that we will ever have exotic worm holes etc.. so may as well begin mans journy and eventual evacuation of earth and our solar system now, by building colonies on asteroids and sending them to distant sun like stars. Preferably younger ones than our own.

Our first step should be to visit/capture a near earth small asteroid learn about it then develope it into a CEV for the solar system perhaps make a few of these.

2nd step would be to make the first colony on a large asteroid.

3rd Step would be to build a colony on an asteroid and send it out into deep space never to return to earth.

[Edited on 14-5-2004 by Xeven]

There's a lot of truth in what you say, Xeven. There's a well-established sci-fi procedure for asteroid conversion which was put to best use (in my opinion) in Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy.

First, capture your asteroid an set it in a stable orbit. Then, set up surface mining facilities for processing the interior of the rock. Once you have a hollow structure (the so-called "biocavern"), give the asteroid spin so that the inhabitants can enjoy 1G centrifugal force on the inside. Construct your essential infrastructure, living quarters and so on, et voila - a self-contained worldlet.

Although more research needs to be done on the structure of asteroids, it is possible that some contain sufficient mineral deposits to make mining worthwhile in itself.

You have a pretty good point.... But, I would worry about being able to land on one to get the mining rquipment, supplies, and personnel on their in the beginning. Jusy my guess is that it would be easier to put huge ship together in space... less danger of instability. But, it would be a great feat if we did it. I would certainly volunteer either way we did it....

You're right about the instability - you'd really want to be super-confident of your technology before you attempted it, wouldn't you?

I think the chief appeal of asteroid habitats is that you wouldn't need to ferry the raw materials into orbit before you could begin construction - they'd be available in the very rock, just waiting to be refined. Since the push to orbit is the most energy-expensive part of the process (and therefore financially-expensive too), being able to skip it entirely is a good idea.

It's all speculation, I admit, but plausible...

I think we are more likely to take up mining asteroids and terraforming Mars. Speaking of asteroids...they would make pretty good weapons too of properly aimed at just the right time. Kind of like Starship Troopers. You could wipe out a whole country with a small asteroid.

I think mining of astroids from the kuiper belt is possible and a future.. it can be done roboticly and cheap..
but we have to make sure we don't set a cataclism in work by a misshap which can bring on of them or more n a collisioncourse with our planet.