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With the WBEZ book Club. I
am Jordan Rich looking skyward at a book

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called Mining the Sky Untold Riches from
the Asteroids, Comets and Planets. The

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author John Lewis. This book,
written in the mid nineties, still considered

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relevant by space aficionados. Lewis is
a planetary science professor. He provides a

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strong argument for using space resources to
address the problems we face here on Earth.

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He looks to chondrites or stony asteroids, comprised of organic materials that can

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help sustain life support systems and a
whole lot more for space travelers. A

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quarter of the mass in the near
Earth asteroid population is water, which can

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be separated into hydrogen and oxygen to
fuel our spacecraft. With an endless supply

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of asteroids out there, mining them
for resources makes great sense, and as

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one international space developer has said,
there are twenty trillion dollar checks up there

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waiting to be cashed. A fascinating
look at possibilities Mining the Sky Untold Riches

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from the Asteroids, Comets and Planets
by John Lewis, And that's the book

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Club. WBEZ Austin's news radio