Plan to turn an asteroid into a space station housing 70,000 people

A space scientist has devised a plan to turn an asteroid into a habitable space station in just 12 years –which he claims could be achieved using 21st-century technology.

David W Jensen, a retired technical fellow at Rockwell Collins has devised the plan, which would create a rotating space station three miles wide that could house 70,000 people.

He believes that it could be accomplished with equipment put in orbit in a single rocket launch and pinpoints nan asteroid target for the mission, Atira.

Jensen writes, "In an example simulation, it takes 12 years to autonomously restructure a large asteroid into the space station.

"This is accomplished with a single rocket launch. The single payload contains a base station, four robots (spiders), and a modest set of supplies. Our simulation creates 3000 spiders and over 23,500 other pieces of equipment."

The full research was published on Arxiv.

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Jensen’s proposed target, Atira, is a stony asteroid found within the interior of Earth’s orbit.

The binary asteroid is three miles wide, and was discovered in 2003.

Jensen argues that self-replicating robots could turn the minerals in the asteroid into a working space station, relatively rapidly.

He believes that it would not involve exotic or unknown technologies.

"Only the base station and spiders (replicators) have advanced microprocessors and algorithms. These represent 21st century technologies created and transported from Earth," he says.

"The equipment and tools are built using in-situ materials and represent 18th or 19th century technologies. The equipment and tools (helpers) have simple mechanical programs to perform repetitive tasks."

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In Jensen’s plan, the asteroid would rotate to create artificial gravity for those within.

"We are at the stage where it appears that the restructuring process is viable. Of course, we expect additional problems to be identified during reviews," he writes.

"We also expect that experts and future teams will be able to solve those problems and improve on the work already done. The restructuring process offers humanity the opportunity to truly become a space faring society."

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