Prospecting for the richest near Earth asteroids and harvesting them to produce propellants, habitats and other structures will accelerate humanity?s expansion into the solar system. Dr. John S. Lewis is the global authority on both the promise of space resources and the potential risk of as-yet undiscovered asteroids slamming into the home planet. Asteroid Mining 101 shows how space prospecting is starting now, alongside research into new technologies to transform raw asteroid material into the building supplies and fuel for the free-enterprise settlement of an endless frontier. The book details how water, oxygen for breathing, metals for construction and other materials are available in vast quantities in space. Dr. Lewis demonstrates how tapping asteroid resources could enable human population to reach hundreds of times its current size, living comfortably in space by utilizing the resources available there.