Re: alternative to terraforming

From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Tue Jun 06 2000 - 13:22:47 MDT


Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
> Amara Graps <amara@amara.com> writes:
>
> > From: Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se>, Date: 03 Jun 2000
> >
> > >One problem is that asteroids seem to be more like piles of rubble
> > >than solid blocks, they might not survive being spun up. One
> > >possibility is to cover them with a mesh to keep everything in place
> > >and excavate anyway, or adapt to life in microgravity.
> >
> > No, this is too sweeping of a statement. *Some* asteroids are like
> > rubble piles, but no one knows the percentage of asteroids that are
> > like that.
>
> I stand corrected.
>
> Still, I think the hollowed out asteroid idea might be tricky to
> implement due to the unknown quality of the rock. After all, most
> asteroids have been subjected to meteoride bombardment, which suggests
> that there may be cracks - definitely not something you want in your
> walls in space.

SImply landing and doing acoustic measurements and capacitance measurements
should provide very good data on structural integrity. Pentrating radar should
work well as well...

Mike Lorrey



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