The thought of mining asteroids have became more prominent throughout the last few years. So for the past month, I have been doing research on why water abstraction from asteroids would be helpful and how to do so. From what I know most of the asteroids near the earth, are olivine-rich. Other than its iron, (OH)- is available as well. Can't we can get water from (OH)- with my given research, through very high temperatures? This is just a thought and I am not a chemistry/physics expert but I would like to know if this is a possibility or if I am misunderstanding something that would make this impossible.
The biggest problem is how to get the water to Earth. The current propulsion technologies for rockets would cause enormous pollution. Current plans for extracting water in space are aimed at using it locally, on the Moon or Mars.
It depends on the type of asteroid. Most near-earth asteroids are dry, but some contain clay-like minerals from which water could be obtained to supply spacecraft.
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