With the WBEZ book Club. I am Jordan Rich looking skyward at a book
called Mining the Sky Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets and Planets. The
author John Lewis. This book, written in the mid nineties, still considered
relevant by space aficionados. Lewis is a planetary science professor. He provides a
strong argument for using space resources to address the problems we face here on Earth.
He looks to chondrites or stony asteroids, comprised of organic materials that can
help sustain life support systems and a whole lot more for space travelers. A
quarter of the mass in the near Earth asteroid population is water, which can
be separated into hydrogen and oxygen to fuel our spacecraft. With an endless supply
of asteroids out there, mining them for resources makes great sense, and as
one international space developer has said, there are twenty trillion dollar checks up there
waiting to be cashed. A fascinating look at possibilities Mining the Sky Untold Riches
from the Asteroids, Comets and Planets by John Lewis, And that's the book
Club. WBEZ Austin's news radio