The Eros Project Eros Basic Facts Asteroid 433 Eros Compared to Lake Tahoe 433 Eros is 33 km (20.5 mi) long by 13 km (8 mi) wide. Lake Tahoe is 35 km (22 mi) long by 19 km (12 mi) wide. As you can see, 433 Eros only the size of a mountain. Asteroid 433, Eros has been owned by Gregory W. Nemitz since March 3, 2000. Orbital Development is managing the Eros Project. Size: 33 km x 13 km x 13 km (20.5 mi x 8 mi x 8 mi) Approximate mass: 7.2 x 10^15 kg (79.2 trillion short tons; a short ton is 2000 pounds) Rotation Period: 5.270 hours Orbital Period: 1.76 Earth years Spectral Class: S Semimajor Axis: 1.458 AU Solar Perihelion Distance: 1.13 AU Solar Aphelion Distance: 1.78 AU Orbital Eccentricity: 0.223 Orbital Inclination: 10.8 deg Geometric Albedo: 0.16 The elements magnesium, aluminum, silicon, potassium, oxygen, and iron have been observed via a mining survey. One Method to Estimate the Value of Eros As an example of Eros' potential value, if a fleet of Space Shuttles launched a mass equal to Eros into Space it would cost: $10,000 per pound times 158,400,000,000,000,000 pounds (158.4 quadrillion pounds) = $1,584,000,000,000,000,000,000, or $1.584 sextillion dollars. If we divide this figure by 100 million, to account for cost and difficulty of processing the asteroid, Orbital Development is easily world's richest company's with US$15.84 trillion in net present assets, with no current debts. Another Method to Estimate the Value of Eros Typically iron found in Space is contaminated with platinium, normally by about .005 or one-half of one percent. Assuming that 433 Eros is only 5% iron, there are 22.5 billion tons of platinium on the asteroid. The current price for platinium is about $750 per troy ounce. There are 29,167 troy ounces per short ton for a total 656,250,000,000,000 troy ounces. At today's price, that is $492,187,500,000,000,000 (~1/2 quintillion dollars). And that is only accounting the platinum. This estimate doesn't consider the additional value of the far more abundant iron, aluminium, magnesium and oxygen. There can be no doubt that Eros has enormous intrisnic value based on its materials, which will be mined in the future.
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