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For centuries, mankind has known of rocks that fall from the sky. As we learn more about our environment, it becomes increasingly clear that Earth-impacting objects such as comets and asteroids have played an important role in our planet's geological and biological history. The work of Dr. Luis Alvarez and his associates has fairly conclusively shown that the iridium rich deposits in the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) layer were the result of an extraterrestrial body impacting Earth. The so-called "dinosaur killer" is depicted in the background image for this page. (Artwork by Don Davis from george.arc.nasa.gov) |
What is important about the threat of falling asteroids and comet is not only what might happen if we do nothing, but also what will happen if we adopt various strategies for dealing with the problem. A massive government-funded program to address potential asteroidal impacts will compel funding from taxpayers, stimulate the bureaucratic imperative, eliminate innovation, and may potentially lead to exciting new weapons systems for select governments.
In contrast, a privately financed program to explore and exploit asteroids, capturing them into useful orbits and extracting their resources for various on-orbit industrial applications is less likely to compel funding from taxpayers, more likely to pay a dividend to investors, will foster innovation, and may potentially lead to the full-scale human colonization of the Solar System. Our preference among these two alternatives should be obvious.
