Here is a video of the talk by asteroid guru John Lewis (see earlier post) given in Silicon Valley last night:
Category Archives: Asteroids & Comets
“To the Asteroids – and Beyond” – John S. Lewis talk webcast
Long time asteroid mining proponent John S Lewis will give a SETI Institute public talk this evening that will also be available online (7 pm PDT, 10 pm EDT):
Please join us tonight at 7pm for a free public talk at the SETI Institute Headquarters at 189 Bernardo Ave, Mountain View.
If you can’t be at the SETI Institute in person, the talk will be broadcast online and live at the following link: https://plus.google.com/events/cfij418phv10tocljpb2dp56630
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Title: “To The Asteroids – and beyond!”
Speaker: John Lewis (UAz)
When: Tonight, 10 September 7pm PDT, 2013
Where: Colloquium Room, SETI Headquarters, 189 Bernardo Ave, Mountain View
Poster: http://www.seti.org/sites/default/files/csc-Sep-13.pdf
Live link: https://plus.google.com/events/cfij418phv10tocljpb2dp56630
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Abstract:
Tsiolkovsii and Goddard dreamed of the day when we would have access to the resources of the asteroids. Today, with an enormous and rapidly growing body of data on meteorites, the Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and their more distant counterparts, we can envision the propulsion systems, transportation system architectures, ores, processing schemes and markets for products made from materials sourced in nearby space. Most of these products are of greatest value and significance in space; some, such as platinum-group metals and
energy, would be worth returning to Earth.
The resources of the NEAs also provide the propellants and structural materials for a broad expansion of human presence in space.
Dr. John Lewis is the author of the 1997 book “Mining the Sky” and is an Emeritis Professor of Planetary Science at University of Arizona. This talk will survey the what, where, how and why of space resource utilization– and raise the timely question of when.
Update: Here is the talk:
“To the Asteroids – and Beyond” – John S. Lewis talk webcast
FISO: Small Bodies Assessment Group’s low assessment of the asteroid retrieval mission
The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Both slides (pdf) and audio (mp3) are available for the talk, “SBAG Findings on ARM – Is There a Role for NEOs in Human Exploration?”, Mark Sykes, Planetary Science Institute – Sept.4.13
Mark V. Sykes of the Planetary Science Institute reports on the negative review of NASA’s proposed Asteroid Retrieval/Redirect Mission (ARM) by the Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG).
A sampling of his slides: 
Video: Fireball in the sky over southeast US
A super bright meteor fireball was visible over the southeastern USA during the early hours of August 28th: Fireball outshines moon: NASA cameras captured video of a meteor streaking past the moon. The fireball was one of the brightest observed by NASA in the past five years. – CSMonitor.com
“Recorded by all six NASA cameras in the Southeast, this fireball was one of the brightest observed by the network in 5 years of operations,” Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., wrote in a blog post Tuesday (Sept. 3).
“From Chickamauga, Georgia, the meteor was 20 times brighter than the full moon; shadows were cast on the ground as far south as Cartersville.”
Here’s a brief video of the fireball talken by a NASA camera:
Caption:
Early Wednesday morning, at 3:27:20 AM Eastern Time, a piece of an asteroid, about 2 feet in diameter and weighing over 100 pounds, entered Earth’s atmosphere above the Georgia/Tennessee border, just south of Cleveland. The meteor was moving northeast at 56,000 miles per hour, and began to break apart north east of Ocoee, at an altitude of 33 miles. A second, fragmentation occurred less than half a second later, at an altitude of 29 miles. NASA cameras lost track of the fireball pieces at an altitude of 21 miles, by which time they had slowed to a speed of 19,400 mph. Sensors on the ground recorded sound waves (“sonic booms”) from this event, and there are indications on Doppler weather radar of a rain of small meteoritic particles falling to the ground east of Cleveland, Tennessee.
John Lewis lecture in Silicon Valley, Sept.10.13
If you are living in the Bay Area, you might want to attend this talk by Dr. John Lewis, the long time proponent of asteroid mining:
Title: “To The Asteroids – and beyond!”
Speaker: John Lewis (UAz)
When: Tuesday, 10 September 7pm PDT, 2013
Where: Colloquium Room, SETI Headquarters, 189 Bernardo Ave, Mountain View
Poster: http://www.seti.org/sites/default/files/csc-Sep-13.pdf
Live link: https://plus.google.com/events/cfij418phv10tocljpb2dp56630
****************************************************************
Abstract:
Tsiolkovsii and Goddard dreamed of the day when we would have access to the resources
of the asteroids. Today, with an enormous and rapidly growing body of data on meteorites,
the Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and their more distant counterparts, we can envision the
propulsion systems, transportation system architectures, ores, processing schemes and
markets for products made from materials sourced in nearby space. Most of these products
are of greatest value and significance in space; some, such as platinum-group metals and
energy, would be worth returning to Earth.
The resources of the NEAs also provide the propellants and structural materials for a broad
expansion of human presence in space.
Dr. John Lewis is the author of the 1997 book “Mining the Sky” and is an Emeritis Professor
of Planetary Science at University of Arizona. This talk will survey the what, where, how and
why of space resource utilization– and raise the timely question of when.