Identify 12 easy-to-exploit asteroids

Scottish researchers say they have identified 12 accessible targets in the field of asteroid mining, which can be impacted to pull them close enough to Earth and exploit.

>>>Mining from asteroids

In the community of near-Earth objects (NEO), there are currently about 12 asteroids that can be exploited more easily than others, using the existing spacecraft technology.

Humanity is approaching the ability to exploit asteroids - (Photo: Phys.org)

Strathclyde University researchers call them ERO , short for Harvestable Objects , which can be pulled from heliocentric orbits to around the Earth at an acceptable cost.

The team of experts scoured the database of about 9,000 NEOs to produce a list of these 12 targets, selected by being able to pull back to Earth by making small changes in their velocity.

'The prospect of capturing a small NEO, or a part separated from a larger object plays an important technical and technological role in the coming decades', according to a report published on the Celestial Mechanics magazine. and Dynamical Astronomy.

This is a stepping stone to the ambitious perspectives in the field of asteroids exploration and exploitation, and it can also be the most harvestable effort for mankind to regulate the environment of solar system.