SETI Live: Prospecting the Solar System Without Landing

What if we could identify valuable resources on other worlds without ever touching their surfaces?

A proposed spacecraft concept could transform how we explore the Solar System by combining remote mineral detection with interplanetary flybys. Called Interworld Slingshot Resource Surveys, this NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) study explores how a spacecraft equipped with laser-based Raman spectroscopy could identify minerals from tens of kilometers away, potentially surveying the Moon, a near-Earth asteroid, and one of Mars' moons during a single mission.

The technology could help scientists understand the composition of planetary surfaces, identify resources for future exploration, and develop new approaches to surveying multiple destinations without landing.

Join SETI Institute scientist and Carl Sagan Center Deputy Director Dr. Simon Steel as he speaks with Dr. Pablo Sobron, the study's principal investigator, about the science behind this ambitious concept, the challenges of detecting minerals from space, and what it could mean for the future of planetary exploration.

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