Mining the Asteroids

Now that the Dawn Spacecraft is successfully orbiting the asteroid Vesta, it has started to send back the first photos of this huge rock.

Vesta is believed to be the second largest object in the asteroid belt, the dwarf planet Ceres being the largest.

After a one year observation of the Asteroid, Dawn will move on to do a similar study of Ceres.

Scientists say that studying these ancient space rocks, will give them further insight into how the solar system was formed.

I am sure though, that they will also be looking at the possibilities of mining these rocks. Asteroids are believed to be made up of ores, minerals and other substances of value, some perhaps yet unknown.

The ancient Sumerians and the Hopi Indians, both tell stories of aliens visiting our planet, in order to mine it.

If these ancient aliens were prepared to come to an inhabited planet to do mining, I am sure that they would first have mined any uninhabited sources first. If these asteroids did once hold precious ores, are they still there?

If the scientists are really hoping to find mining possibilities, are they going to be disappointed?

If these rocks have been mined, it would surely be proof that we are not alone in the Universe. Will the scientists tell us or will they just say that no viable mining sites exist?

I am sure that the scientists are looking for more evidence as to how the universe began. I am equally sure that there are teams of scientists, whose primary task is, looking for signs of previous visitations to the huge rocks.