Bruce L. Cutright reports in Chapter 4 of the EMD Memoir 101 that near-earth asteroids and comets, collectively the near-Earth objects - NEOs, represent a large population of minor planetary bodies whose orbits lie mostly within the zone between Venus and Mars. Many of these objects cross the Earth orbit, providing relatively easy access from Earth for manned or robotic sampling and exploration missions with fewer propulsion requirements than trips to the Moon or to Mars. This chapter provides a review of NEOs in the context of supporting, through in-situ resource utilization, an active and expanding space exploration and resource development program capable of becoming self-funding and supporting a solar system-wide expansion program. The NEO compositions range from highly metallic asteroids composed predominantly of iron, nickel, and cobalt to comet-like objects composed of frozen water and gases of various compositions. The NEOs are the most easily accessible objects in nearEarth space, and they are numerous.
As of January 2011, a total of 7,872 NEOs had been identified. The number of NEOs with diameters greater than 1 km -> 0.6 mi - reached 1,269 by June 2012. Moreover, 1,176 have been identified as potentially hazardous Earth impactors by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Near-Earth Object Program, approaching Earth to within 0.05 astronomical units or approximately 7,480,000 km - say 4,647,860 miles.
The value of NEOs for space exploration may far exceed the immediate scientific information that they provide on the origin of the solar system. NEOs have the potential to provide fuel for rockets, oxygen and life support materials for explorers, valuable materials and metals for construction in space, and critical, strategic, and highly valuable materials for Earth.
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