Problem deep space human exploration is unaffordable: in 2014 the NASA advisory council issued a finding that the mismatch between NASA s aspirations for human spaceflight and its budget for human…

Problem deep space human exploration is unaffordable: in 2014 the NASA advisory council issued a finding that the mismatch between NASA s aspirations for human spaceflight and its budget for human spaceflight is the most serious problem facing the agency. Since the time of that advisory NASA has conducted many mission and systems analyses but has yet to publish a sustained mission plan and cost analysis that fits within any budget that congress will approve. NASA s vision of human exploration remains unaffordable largely due to the high cost of launching large quantities of drinking water oxygen radiation shielding and especially rocket propellant from earth. Solution: optical mining of asteroids provides affordable mission consumables and radiation shielding: an exciting program of human exploration beyond LEO might include an outpost at the top of the earth-moon gravity well or on the surface of the moon; human exploration of near earth objects in their natural orbits; and/or a series of human missions to the mars system. Water oxygen propellant and shielding can be made in space from resources known to be plentifully available in asteroids and probably in the martian moon deimos. Optical mining technology is a breakthrough approach to harvesting these materials from asteroids boulders and regolith in microgravity. In optical mining excavating and processing asteroid materials is accomplished by highly concentrated sunlight which we have shown can be used to drill holes excavate disrupt and shape an asteroid while the asteroid is enclosed in a containment bag.