title: The importance of exploring the asteroid belt.
abstract: Following life's innate tendency to expand into every available space, technological civilizations will inevitably colonize the entire galaxy establishing space habitats around all its well-behaved stars. The most reasonable place in our solar system to test this possibility is the asteroid belt, which is an ideal source of raw materials for space colonies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy, Boston University, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Papagiannis
mesh_terms: D055580:Astronomical Phenomena; D001256:Astronomy; D018559:Exobiology / Q000639:trends*; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D019369:Life; D018543:Minor Planets; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D016082:Solar System; D013026:Space Flight / Q000639:trends*