Early evidence suggests that there are trillions of dollars’ worth of minerals and metals buried in asteroids that come close to the Earth. These include phosphorus, antimony, zinc, tin, lead, indium, silver, gold and copper. The mining of resources contained in asteroids, for use as propellant, building materials or in …

The exponential price/performance improvements in semiconductor technology stemming from Moore’s Law are enabling even the smallest and most application-specific devices, such as sensors and actuators, to include networking capabilities. The overwhelming majority of such devices will be cheap and power-constrained. Low device costs permit deployment in unprecedented numbers, with some …