How to Colonize an Asteroid
Once an asteroid has been selected and a basic power generation system installed, it will be time to bury the colony ship in the regolith of the asteroid. The primary reason for this is to protect the colonists from radiation. The ship will need to have a solar flare shelter, but a better long term solution is to bury the ships modules under several feet of the pulverised material on the asteroids surface, called the regolith. This layer of rock will serve to replace earth's atmosphere as a radiation filter for the colonists. Once we move inside, there will be an even a lower radiation level than that found on earth. (Hmmm... I wonder if humans REQUIRE a certain amount of radiation exposure...)