A World by Any Other Name

Comets and asteroids provide evidence of the formation epoch of our Solar System. They represent the pristine stardust of which we are made. They’re implicated in life and death in the evolution of life on Earth. But they’re minor bodies of the Solar System. The three targets of Stardust’s study are a motley, misshapen collec­tion. There’s 5535 Annefrank, three miles across and shaped like a right-angled prism. There’s Wild 2, similar in size, with a pitted and coruscated surface. And there’s 9P/Tempel, slightly larger and shaped like a potato. Are they big enough to be called worlds? Are they substantial enough to have a place in our dreams?

Yes, absolutely. They may be too small to hold an atmosphere, but comets and asteroids have unique shapes and topographies that imbue them with personality. Our technology is good enough to throw a gravity “lasso” around a space rock that ventures near us and steer it into Earth orbit. Comets contain water ice and organic material needed to sustain life, and the hydrogen and oxygen in the water are all that’s needed to make rocket fuel. A comet retained in high Earth orbit would be a perfect jumping-off point for manned exploration of the outer Solar System and beyond. Asteroids also contain valuable metals and minerals; according to one estimate, the mineral wealth in the asteroid belt amounts to $100 billion for every person on Earth.52 Wild 2 probably contains around $20 trillion worth of precious and industrial metals, and over $100 bil­lion worth of platinum alone.53 In fact, the precious metals we do have were gifts from comets in the early days of the Solar System. Metals present when the Earth formed settled directly to the core while the planet was molten; those we can reach in the crust were “dusted” onto the planet by later waves of comets.54

Space mining aside, a small, barren rock might not be worth calling your own. The 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty prohibits any State owning or controlling the Moon, an asteroid, or a comet, but the treaty has a loophole since it doesn’t specifi­cally exclude the ownership rights of an individual.55 A small world might seem limiting, but think of the pleasure in owning a world the size of a small town and surveying the domain like a colossus. The gravity of Wild 2 is so weak you would literally be as light as a feather. A small push and you could escape your world and sail into deep space. And think of the glittering minerals—a hoard magnificent enough to power all the dreams ever dreamed.