Platinum Group Metals in Carbonaceous Chondritic Meteorites About two to three percent of the total by weight in Earth striking Cl and C2 samples were small loose metal fragments about 99% iron/nickel/cobalt/copper with PGM traces. This metal could be separated from loose material with electromagnets. This first reduced metal fraction has the following content in Earth striking C1/C2 bodies. For comparison, the richest minable ores on Earth contain 4.8 ppm Platinum and 2.06 ppm Palladium. [Ibid. 19] At Case for Mars II, in 1984,20 Dr. Brian O'Leary pointed out that Phobos and Deimos, classified as C objects and thought to be captured asteroids, are closer to Earth than the Moon in terms of Delta Vee and therefore more accessible from an economic perspective. This conceptual approach to space economic geography was first proposed by Arthur C. Clarke in 194921 and represents a major unimplemented paradigm shift in space policy. Calculations verified by JPL show a Delta Vee of 4.1 km/sec for a LEO-Phobos mission using Mar's atmosphere for aerobraking.22 This number is also lower than the delta vee of boosting a payload from LEO to GEO; 4.2 km/sec. [Ibid. 16] A survey of delta vee data for near Earth destinations and the most accessible known Earth crossing asteroids clearly establishes the importance of these bodies. While Soviet Phobos data casts some doubt on previous assumptions in the space resource community about the composition of Phobos (and by association Deimos), they remain interestingunless shown not to have free metal (figures below). [Ibid. 16]23 Phobos, Deimos, and Anza are classed as "C" objects with Anteros and Eros classed as "S". Most of the known near Earth asteroids have not been classified by type and the above data probably represents less than 1 % of the actual asteroids in this range of accessibility. No more than 8 astronomers using small ground based optical telescopes have hunted asteroids full time. [Ibid. 13] About ten bodies a year have been discovered by this method with about 130 Earth crossing bodies currently known. Given the large amount of time and work needed to discover one Earth crosser and the relative lack of glamour involved it is not surprising that only a few astronomers have pursued this research. Congress might consider offering a "bounty" to private and amateur astronomers to find the thousands of undiscovered "flying mountains" in near Earth space.
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