978-1-6654-3760-8/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE Quantification Method for Assessment of Asteroid Resource Accessibility Kevin I. Alvarado Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Clarkson University, 8 Clarkson Ave., Potsdam, NY 13699 alvarakl@clarkson.edu Michael C.F. Bazzocchi Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Clarkson University, 8 Clarkson Ave., Potsdam, NY 13699 mbazzocc@clarkson.edu Abstract—Asteroid mining and retrieval have been explored as viable alternatives to supplying resources from Earth for space missions. Various methods for determining the accessibility of near-Earth asteroids have been presented; however, this method focuses on the quantity and types of resources that are available within a certain energy constraint given a redirection time frame. Lambert’s problem is solved to determine the optimal transfer orbit between the Earth and asteroid for rendezvous. A genetic algorithm is used to determine the minimum energy for transfer with varying flight durations and launch dates. The physical properties and spectral classifications of known asteroids are used to estimate the quantity and chemical composition of accessible resources. This method is applied to asteroids that have assigned taxonomic classifications. An overall distribution of asteroid types and energy requirements is presented for Earth and investigated for a sample asteroid scenario. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 1 2. BACKGROUND......................................................... 1 3. PROBLEM FORMULATION ...................................... 3 4. TECHNICAL APPROACH ......................................... 3 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION..................................... 5 6. CONCLUSION........................................................... 9 REFERENCES............................................................... 9 BIOGRAPHY .............................................................. 10 1. INTRODUCTION As space exploration continues to increase, more resources will be utilized for space missions. Rocket launches for resupplying missions are expensive overall as a tremendous amount of energy is required to overcome the atmosphere and gravity of the Earth. Rather than using the Earth itself for resources, it has been explored as a possibility that other celestial bodies could be used for mining. The nearest celestial body to Earth that can be mined for resources is the Moon. Some have studied and reviewed the potential for lunar mining, but it remains unclear as to the quantity and accessibility of desired resources [1, 2]. Resource utilization analyses have been performed for near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) [1-10]; however, the rapid increase in NEA discovery and characterization requires the development of a general method that can be readily applied to a large dataset in order to understand the resource accessibility of the NEA population. A general method can further be applied to estimate asteroid materials accessible to other planets, particularly in cases where few alternatives exist for in situ resource utilization. There are several beneficial resources that can be obtained from asteroids within the solar system. These resources include metals, silicates, water, and other volatiles for extraction and use in situ. Asteroid compositions and specifications are often difficult to determine, but through spectral and meteoritic analyses, general trends can be estimated. Different types of impulsive and low-thrust maneuvers for asteroid redirection to an orbit around the Earth have been proposed [3-6, 8]. Further research is required on the formulation of a general method for asteroid redirection to an arbitrary target body while assessing the type and quantity of resources available. The goal of this research is to develop a general method for determining the quantity and type of resources available to a target body. The method is validated through analysis of the accessibility of resources to the Earth from near-Earth asteroids. The proposed method requires solving Lambert’s problem and implementing a stochastic optimization scheme for obtaining the minimum energy transfer for rendezvous within a given time frame. The asteroids are further evaluated based on their spectral classification and mass properties to estimate the quantity and type of resources available. The accessibility of known asteroids further allows for estimation of general trends when asteroid information is uncertain or unknown. 2. BACKGROUND Development of new technologies in the aerospace industry have made spaceflight increasingly accessible to the public. However, the cost to place resources in orbit still remains a barrier for many space missions. For example, there is a typical cost of about $10,000 per pound to send materials to low-Earth orbit [11]. Although there have been some recent reductions in costs due to the use of reusable rockets, launch costs remain a persistent challenge. Furthermore, rocket launches from Earth are very inefficient due to the propulsive losses required to overcome the atmosphere and gravity. To support missions beyond low-Earth orbit requires a