Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2016

ASTRONAUTICS expressions of intent, we find written that: “Water is at the core of Deep Space Indus- tries’ work both today and in the future. It is the first resource we will harvest, and the first product we will sell” . Water molecules can also be broken into their basic compo- nents to extract liquid hydrogen and oxy- gen, perhaps the two most important pro- S imulation of asteroidal soil after the initial treatment to ex- tract resources useful to human activities in space. Below, represen- tation of a hypo- thetical future mission of Deep Space Industries, with the capture of an entire asteroid. [DSI] er, which will ensure the travelling in space of the craft by using as propel- lant ordinary water trans- formed into high pressure steam. We know that wa- ter is the most abundant chemical compound in the universe and that in vari- ous forms there is plenty of it also in our solar sys- tem. We also know that water is the basis not only of life but also of any hu- man activity, and carrying it into space from Earth is extremely expensive, i.e. about $4,000 per litre (source: SpaceX 2015). Therefore, by being able to extract it from asteroids and use it also as propel- lant for the various space activities would open up entirely new horizons for the col- onization of the solar system, as a start. DSI wants to bring this opportunity to fruition, and it is no coincidence that in the various