Is Space the Place? Trying to Save Humanity by Mining Asteroids

01/05/16 • 22 min

Distillations | Science History Institute

2015 was a good year for outer space. Star Wars: Episode VII came out, NASA started hiring astronauts again, SpaceX successfully launched and returned a rocket, and the U.S. Congress passed the SPACE Act of 2015—a bill that gives any American who extracts resources from an asteroid legal rights to the bounty they reap. Since no one has yet mined an asteroid this legislation might seem premature, but it’s essential to the future of two Silicon Valley asteroid mining companies. That’s right, they already exist. They’re just waiting for humans to start colonizing space.

Reporters Katie Gilbert and Annie Costakis talk to Daniel Faber, the founder of Deep Space Industries, about his dream: to build the space equivalent of Home Depot, as well as fueling stations and manufacturing plants. They also explain a few of the untested theories behind asteroid mining.

We wanted to know more about the history of space dreaming and space colonies, so we talked to Patrick McCray, a historian of science and technology and the author of The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future. He says utopian space visions have long filled the heads of scientifically minded dreamers, especially when life on Earth isn’t going so well.

Show Clock:

00:03 Introduction01:26 Will asteroid mining save us?12:40 Who were the visioneers?

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob KenworthyGuest: Patrick McCrayReporters: Katie Gilbert and Annie CostakisProducer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

"Boop" By Podington Bear, courtesy of the Free Music Archive.

Additional music courtesy of the Audio Network.

Show Clock:

00:03 Introduction01:26 Will asteroid mining save us?12:40 Who were the visioneers?

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob KenworthyGuest: Patrick McCrayReporters: Katie Gilbert and Annie CostakisProducer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

"Boop" By Podington Bear, courtesy of the Free Music Archive.

Additional music courtesy of the Audio Network.

Previous Episode

Sex and Gender: What We Know and Don’t Know

Several years ago historian of medicine Alice Dreger found herself in a room full of intersexed people, individuals with reproductive or sexual anatomy that is neither typically female nor male. Dreger noticed something strange: many of them had teeth that were in bad shape. She soon learned that many of them had endured such traumatic experiences with doctors that they wouldn’t go near anyone in a white coat, including dentists.

We were astonished by this story, so we asked Dreger to tell us more. She joined us for our December podcast alongside Eric Vilain, a medical geneticist and director of the Center for Gender-based Biology at UCLA. While intersex, transgender, and transsexual issues have recently entered the mainstream, our guests explain that there have always been those whose anatomy or identity prevents them from fitting neatly into the categories of male or female. And even with this newfound exposure, tensions continue to exist for them all.

But first we’ll hear about the experiences of a transgender couple desperate to conceive a child, but who struggled to find a willing doctor. Mariel Carr visits them at home in Philadelphia, where they’re adapting to life with an infant.

Show Clock:

00:03 Introduction 01:26 Feature story: "The Pregnant Man" 14:48 Interview with Alice Dreger and Eric Vilain

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob Kenworthy Guests: Alice Dreger and Eric Vilain Reporter: Mariel Carr Producer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

Music courtesy of the Audio Network.

Next Episode

DDT: The Britney Spears of Chemicals

Americans have had a long, complicated relationship with the pesticide DDT, or dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, if you want to get fancy. First we loved it, then we hated it, then we realized it might not be as bad as we thought. But we’ll never restore it to its former glory. And couldn’t you say the same about America’s once-favorite pop star?

We had a hunch that the usual narrative about DDT’s rise and fall left a few things out, so we talked to historian and CHF fellow Elena Conis. She has been discovering little-known pieces of this story one dusty letter at a time.

But first our associate producer Rigoberto Hernandez checks out some of CHF’s own DDT cans—that’s right, we have a DDT collection—and talks to the retired exterminator who donated them.

Show Clock:

00:03 Introduction01:26 DDT's Rise06:56 DDT's Fall13:24 DDT's Complicated Legacy

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob KenworthyGuest: Elena ConisProducer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

Music courtesy of the Audio Network.