Cheap Astronomy - Dear CA Ep. 140: Objects & Objectives

Objective: objects! Hosted by Steve Nerlich. Dear Cheap Astronomy – How often does the solar system capture or eject things? The first evidence that stellar systems might eject things were observations of rogue planets knocked out of their systems due to gravitational interactions and now populating interstellar space. For every rogue planet knocked out its system there are likely thousands of smaller objects also knocked out that are just too small for us to observe. We call this rogue population interstellar objects.   Dear Cheap Astronomy – What else is going on in the asteroid mining space? What are the alternatives to CSOTM (Crash Shirt On The Moon)? Good question. There have been a number of attempts to create an asteroid mining industry despite the obvious lack of access or technological solutions. Such 'start ups' have been largely built on venture capital – the support of investors willing to take a gamble on investing in a venture unlikely to deliver profit in the near future. Asteroid mining was the focus of the high-profile Deep Space Industries launched in 2013 which developed some ideas for utilization of off-world resources, including building spacecraft and an orbiting platform for the collection and processing of off-world water for rocket fuel production, but nothing ever got off the ground and the venture, largely a think-tank, was bought out in 2019.   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.