How to Colonize an Asteroid

Example Probes: NEAP

NEAP Stands for Near Earth Asteroid Prospector. NEAP is being built by a company called SpaceDev (Stock symbol SPDV)(www.spacedev.com), and if it is a success, it will set many historic firsts:

It will be the first privately funded craft to leave earth orbit.
It will be the first privately funded probe to go to another planetary body and land payloads.
It is the first space probe selling commercial space to any lab or scientist who can raise the funds.
It will be the first attempt by a corporation to claim property rights in space (they will try to claim an asteroid).

SpaceDev is designing a modular probe and trying to sell commercial space. The NEAP craft carries a few scientific instruments and sells small canisters of space for various other experiments, or possibly nano-rovers to explore the surface of an asteroid. (Click on the image at left to see it full size).

The philosophy of this company is that, very soon, people and companies are going to start mining asteroids. They are going to get in on the ground floor and provide prospecting services. In addition, SpaceDev has recently (July, 1999) formed an alliance with an organization called NORCAT which will help to develop methods for anchoring to asteroids and extracting their mineral content.

The NEAP mission could very well spark the first wave of human colonization of the asteroids, and I am proud to be a shareholder (albeit small) in this emerging company!