The lesson didn't really talk much about the Kuiper Belt Objects, so I found this video:
Is anyone else reading the lessons along with me? I'd love to get some discussions going. This lesson is a good one, since we're so interested in asteroids not just because someday one might hit the earth (We've had some close calls, astronomically speaking.) but also because if we can find a way to capture and mine these asteroids, especially, we will go a long way to developing an infrastructure for colonizing the solar system. (BTW, the lesson does not say what albedo is--it's simply how much light is reflected off a surface. as a comparison, the moon's albedo is .12.)
I think that if I write a story about asteroid miners, I will have to consider the Jovian LaGrange points. LaGrange points are nice "balance points," between two large bodies. Something in the LaGrange point will stay in that spot without having to expend extra energy. It's commonly considered a good spot for space stations; in this case, a nice big mining colony sounds good.
This lesson had some good basic information, but it served to remind me about how much more I need to know about asteroids should I decide to write more about them.
Do you want to learn more about asteroid mining and what we're looking at now? If so, I'll do some research; several universities are exploring this, of course, but I'm not sure if any companies are. I think we first need to make getting to space cheaper.
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