This presentation defines the asteroids and describes its role in our solar system and how to protect our earth from these space rocks in case of any mishap.

1. By Afaq and Azhar
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ASTEROIDS

2. WHAT ARE ASTEROIDS?
• Asteroids are small, rocky solar system bodies that are
mainly Present between Mars and Jupiter. There are
millions of them. The Planetary science community
refers to them as minor planets, a general term applied
to solar system bodies smaller than moons. Most of
them orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, although
there are some of them that orbit closer to Earth.

3. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ASTEROID, METEOROID
METEORS & METEORITES
• Asteroid: a large rocky body in space, in orbit around the Sun.
• Meteoroid: much smaller rocks or particles in orbit around the
Sun.
• Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere and
vaporizes, it becomes a meteor, which is often called a shooting
star.
• Meteorite: If a small asteroid or large meteoroid survives its
fiery passage through the Earth's atmosphere and lands on
Earth's surface, it is then called a meteorite.

4. WHERE DID ASTEROIDS CAME FROM?
 Asteroids are mainly made of materials left over
from the formation of the inner solar system or
debris from the destruction of a planet. These are
leftover from a time when the solar system formed
4.5 billion years ago. Early on, the birth of Jupiter
prevented any planetary bodies from forming in the
gap between Mars and Jupiter, causing the small
objects that were there to collide with each other
and fragment into the asteroids seen today.

5.  Asteroids come in three composition classes.
C-types (chondrites) are made of clay and
silicate rocks. S-types are the so-called
“stony” asteroids and are made mostly of
silicate rocks and nickel-iron mixtures.
M-types are metallic nickel-iron.

6.  On the first day of January 1801, Italian Priest and
Astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered an object
which he first thought was a new comet. But after its
orbit was better determined it was clear that it was not
a comet but more like a small planet. Piazzi named it
Ceres, after the Sicilian goddess of grain. Three other
small bodies were discovered in the next few years
(Pallas, Vesta, and Juno). By the end of the 19th
century there were several hundred.Ceres is the
largest Asteroid ever Discovered.

7. What if an Asteroid Fall on Earth?
• It would raise enough dust into the atmosphere to
effectively create a “Nuclear winter," severely disrupting
life and agriculture around the world.
• If an asteroid of the size of a house crashed on Earth at
30,000 mph. It would have an amount of energy roughly
equal to the bomb that fell on Hiroshimaa, perhaps 20
kilotons.
• Now you can Imagine what will happen if bigger Asteroids
Hit the Earth.

9. HOW CAN WE STOP AN ASTERIOD FROM
HITTING THE EARTH?

10. EXTINCTION OF
DINOSAURS
A notable impact site of an Asteroid hitting the
Earth is off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in
Mexico, and is believed to be a record of the event
that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65
million years ago.

11. Some Interesting Facts…
• Earth suffers an impact from an Asteriod the size of a
football field about once every 2,000 years.
• A car-sized meteoroid falls into Earth’s atmosphere about
once a year. The result is a beautiful fireball, but it usually
burns up before reaching the ground.
• Some asteroids have moons of their own!
• Asteroids are rich in Precious metals(such as Gold) as
well as water.
• If all the Precious Metals from the Asteroids are brought to
Earth and Distributed Equally, every Single Person on
Earth will have more than $100 billion in his Pocket which
are more than Bill Gates total Assets.

12. ASTEROID MINING
Asteroids may be a much better place to get the supplies. Early
evidence suggests that there are trillions of dollars' worth of
minerals and metals buried in asteroids that come close to the
Earth. Asteroids are so close that many scientists think an
asteroid mining mission is easily feasible.
The machinery will likely be solar powered, to reduce the need for
fuel that would have to be hauled to the asteroid by spacecraft.
The equipment will also have to be lightweight to transport it to the
asteroid.
Some experts, have favored using robotic equipment to limit the
personnel needed to carry out the mining project. This would
reduce the amount of supplies, like food, required for a manned
mission.

13. ASTEROID MINING
Miners on asteroids would use techniques similar to those used on
Earth. The most likely method would be to scrape desired material off
the asteroid, and tunnel into veins of specific substances. Scraping,
or strip mining, will pull out valuable ore that will float off the asteroid.
Because much of the ore will fly off, a large canopy might be used to
collect it.
Once a load of material is ready to be sent to either Earth or a space
colony, rocket fuel for a ferrying spacecraft could be produced by
breaking down water from the asteroid into hydrogen and oxygen.
After an asteroid's minerals and resources have been exhausted by
the mining project, the equipment can then be transported to the next
asteroid.

14. Questions?

15. THANK YOU!
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