Space science seminar

S.RABIN WILLIAM
162PY146
3RD BSC PHYSICS
Ceres
What are asteroids?
 Asteroids- “ star-like”
 Rocky space bodies too small to be
termed as a planet.
 Commonly called as “planetoids” or
“minor planets”
 Comes in different shapes and sizes
ranging from 1m to almost 920Km in
diameter.
Where do these come from?
 Majority of asteroids orbit the sun from
the asteroid belt which is located
between Mars and Jupiter. (T= 3~6 yrs)
 Some other asteroids are found in
Jupiter's orbit at Lagrangian points points
in Jupiter's orbit where they have a stable
orbit. These asteroids are called the
Trojan asteroids.
 Near Earth Asteroids: less than 1.3 AU.
Classification of asteroids
 Asteroids are generally classified based
on their composition into 3 types
 C-type
 S-type
 M-type
C-type
 Carbonaceous
asteroids :
 Grayish in color
 Most common, more than
75 percent of known
asteroids.
 Consist of clay and stony
silicate rocks
 Inhabit the main belt's
outer regions.
S-type
 Silicaceous
asteroids:
 Greenish to reddish
in colour.
 About 17% of known
asteroids.
 Located at inner
asteroid belt.
 Composed of silicate
materials and nickel
iron.
M-type
 Metallic asteroids.
 Reddish in colour.
 Rest percent of
asteroiods.
 Dwell in the middle
region of the asteroid
belt.
 Made up of nickel iron.
Orbital motion of asteroids
 Just like planets asteroids also have an
orbital motion. The orbital period of the
asteroids present in the main belt is 2 to
6 years.
 The orbital path of Trojan asteroids is
quite interesting. At lagrangian points,
the gravitational force exerted by the
Jupiter on the asteroids is balanced by
the gravitational pull of the sun.
What if an asteroid hits us?
 Evidences show that there’s been a long
history of asteroid impacts on earth.
 Popular impact- 65 million years ago.
 Asteroid of a size of a house-
30,000mph = Hiroshima.
 In 2028, asteroid 1997XF11 will come
extremely close to Earth but will miss
the planet.
Asteroid mining
 Metallic asteroids
 Near earth asteroids.
 At least 1 Km in diameter.
 Land a mining craft on the surface of an
asteroid and to collect the samples by
drilling it.
Mining organizations
 Deep Space Industries
 Planetary Resources
 Moon Express
 Kleos Space
 TransAstra
 Aten Engineering
 OffWorld
 SpaceFab.US
 Asteroid Mining Corporation Ltd. UK
References:
 https://theconversation.com/mining-
asteroids-could-unlock-untold-wealth-
heres-how-to-get-started-95675
 https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/ex
ploring-the-planets/online/solar-
system/asteroids/where.cfm
 https://ase.tufts.edu/cosmos/print_chapt
er.asp?id=13
 https://lco.global/science/asteroids/
Thank you.