Mining the moon is a possibility

Mining the moon has become a serious possibility due to the fact that the moon contains a surplus of water ice at its north and south poles.  It is projected that the moon has approximately 1.6 billion tonnes of water ice and "It is this, more than anything else," Cornfield writes, "that has kindled interest in mining the Moon, for where there is ice, there is fuel."  Shackleton Energy Company plans to utilize the moon’s water ice by extracting it and turning it into rocket fuel.  Then, they would be able to create fuel stations in earth’s orbit.  They would essentially be creating a gas station in space.  However, water ice isn’t the only thing the moon has to offer.  The moon also contains rare-earth elements and China has taken advantage of these elements since they touched down on the moon in December of 2013.  "All interested parties agree that the Moon -- one step from Earth -- is the essential first toehold for humankind's diaspora to the stars," Corfield concludes.

Citation: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150202114634.htm

NASA Spacecaft "Dawn" captures best-ever images of dwarf planet

Recently, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has captured the highest quality pictures ever seen of the dwarf planet know as Ceres.  On January 25, NASA received these images from the spacecraft, which took them from 147,000 miles away.  The images were of such high resolution due to the fact that the spacecraft has traveled through the solar system to Ceres.  However, this is just the start.  In the beginning of March, Dawn will enter into orbit around Ceres, enabling NASA to visualize the dwarf planet’s composition.  "We are already seeing areas and details on Ceres popping out that had not been seen before. For instance, there are several dark features in the southern hemisphere that might be craters within a region that is darker overall," said Carol Raymond from JPL. "Data from this mission will revolutionize our understanding of this unique body. Ceres is showing us tantalizing features that are whetting our appetite for the detailed exploration to come."  Although we know a miniscule amount of information about our solar system, "With the help of Dawn and other missions, we are continually adding to our understanding of how the solar system began and how the planets were formed," said Chris Russell from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Citation: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/01/dawn-spacecraft-captures-best-ever-view-of-dwarf-planet