Although most of our work is done together, we each have specific areas of focus based on personal interest. Andrea and Brian have been focusing on asteroids and space mining, whereas Kamala has devoted herself to the work on space law and ethical considerations. We each have read books, journal articles, and have consulted reliable websites in regards to our research.
We’ve done an excellent job thus far keeping on task and not falling behind in our work. We developed a detailed outline early in the quarter, found a wide variety of resources, created a website, and meet regularly to refine each and discuss our progress. In week five we completed the draft of the first section of our final report: asteroid characteristics and classifications.
We’ve discovered that the observation portion of our project will prove to be a difficult one. We found out that there were going to be four asteroids visible during the quarter: Kalliope, Flora, Melpomene, and Hebe. We attempted to view Kalliope with the Orion telescope in mid-April but were unsuccessful due to the nearly full moon and poor weather conditions. The remaining three asteroids will be visible in early to mid-May, and we hope to have good conditions to observe them. We’ve developed a good technique for observing asteroids: finding a star map of the region of sky they will appear in with stars down to about the 11th magnitude and attempting to track the movement of the asteroid against these background stars over a few nights. Our only remaining obstacle is to find or create a map that shows the sky as it appears in the telescope—upside down and backwards.
For the remainder of the quarter,
our overall goal is to produce an outstanding final report. With the asteroid
section completed, we plan on finishing the mining section and getting
a good start on the ethical consideration section during week six. We will
then begin the mathematical equations section in which we plan on possibly
working with the math of the Kirkwood gaps, asteroid motions, the delta-v
of asteroids, and exploring the possible effects of the removal of mass
from the asteroid belt on its orbital dynamics. If we find this work
to be a bit too daunting we may explore the mathematics of asteroid impacts.
This section will be added to or subtracted from as we begin to realize
what is achievable. We will continue our observation attempts as the quarter
progresses.