Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2016

40 We have long known that in order to colonize space on a sustained basis we must not be dependent on the Earth. This means ex- tracting the raw materials essential for survival directly from rocky bodies of the solar system. A pri- vate space company is going to take the first step in that direction, with a mission designed to inves- tigate a small asteroid and assess the value of the re- sources that it can offer. by Michele Ferrara ASTRONAUTICS SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2016 Prospector-1: space miner