Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1138\cocoasubrtf470 {\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 ArialMT;}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;\red26\green26\blue26;\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue239; }
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww10800\viewh8400\viewkind0 \deftab720
\pard\pardeftab720
\f0\fs24 \cf2 \cb3 (Image Source: {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130207-asteroid-flyby-earth-space-science/"}}{\fldrslt
\cf4 \ul \ulc4 P. Carril, ESA / National Geographic}})\ \
\pard\pardeftab720
\b \cf2 BY ELISA LOPEZ AGUADO\ ANCHOR ZACH TOOMBS
\b0 \ \
An asteroid expected to pass Earth Friday will set a record for the closest approach
ever for a rock that size. Asteroid 2012 DA14 is half the size of a football field and moving
eight times faster than a bullet.\ \
The near approach has one company seeing dollar signs. Deep Space Industries, a new company
intent on mining asteroids, claims the nearby asteroid is worth $195 billion if it could
be mined. ({\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.space.com/19758-asteroid-worth-billions-2012-da14-flyby.html"}}{\fldrslt \cf4 \ul \ulc4 Video via Space.com}})\
\ That\'92s because the metals, propellants
and water contained in the asteroid are much more valuable in space than they are on earth,
because they can be used in space without having to pay to put them in orbit. ({\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pIY_fmvFDhM"}}{\fldrslt \cf4 \ul \ulc4 Video via Deep Space Industries}})\
\ According to NBC, DSI is not planning to chase
\'a02012 DA14 down because it\'92s \'93too hard to catch.\'94\
\ But {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/02/13/no-asteroid-2021-da14-isnt-worth-195-billion-whatever-deep-space-industries-says/"}}{\fldrslt
\cf4 \ul \ulc4 at least one critic writing for Forbes}} isn\'92t buying DSI\'92s hype,
saying with no way to mine the asteroid and no potential customers, the company\'92s dollar
amount is hard to take seriously.\ \
\b \'93The value of any lump of rock is not the value of the metals trapped within it.
It is the value of those trapped metals minus the cost of untrapping them. \'85 2012 DA14
isn\'92t worth $195 billion. It\'92s worth nothing.\'94
\b0 \ \
At its closest, the asteroid will be visible through binoculars or low-powered telescopes,
but only if you live in Eastern Europe, Asia or Australia.\
\ For the rest of the world, the {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK
"http://events.slooh.com/"}}{\fldrslt \cf4 \ul \ulc4 Slooh Space Camera}} will be streaming
live images with commentary by astronomers.\ \
And just in case you were worried:\'a0 \b \'93We can say with great confidence that
there is no chance of it hitting the Earth.\'94 \b0 ({\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4YvGQfrMKo"}}{\fldrslt
\cf4 \ul \ulc4 Video via NASA}})}