An asteroid, docile in space but deadly to Earth. Image credit: NASA/JPL
Last night, the US PBS television stations aired a new show from the series NOVA, "Asteroid—Doomsday or Payday." It portrayed the two sides of asteroids: if a large asteroid collides with Earth, it could set off deadly blast waves, raging fires and colossal tidal waves. But on the other hand, some asteroids are loaded with billions of dollars' worth of elements like iron, nickel, and platinum, and companies like Planetary Resources are trying to figure out how to take advantage of those elusive resources in space.
You can watch the entire episode below. As with previous shows, viewers in other countries might have difficulty watching the show.
For additional reading, here's a great article by PBS's NOVANext about why more isn't being done about asteroid detection and deflection.
Planetary Resources has some info about why mining asteroids will fuel human expansion into the cosmos (read here)—watch their video, below:
Source: Universe Today
