ToughSF links 3200 Phaéthon in abstract. This rock is a Near Earth asteroid (although not like the one which almost sucker punched us); Molniya-tier 0.14 AU perihelion (hence the reference in its name). It is a chondrite whose spoor gives us the Geminid meteors. Eric MacLennan and Mikael Granvik have narrowed-down the nature of the rock: definitely carbonaceous, Yamato / CY. "Borderline CI", per wiki.
ToughSF is most-interested in that Phaethon still holds frozen volatiles within itself. Perhaps it is not all coal? Although even coal is useful to settlers...
I am interested, for my part, in shattered S-types. They don't start with a lot of volatiles; and if they are shattered, I imagine most of what volatiles they have, will be lost to space. But if what shattered such a rock includes something alien, here being a C-type (or B like Pallas), those inclusions might remain within, hidden from us.
WAIT 11/8: Destiny+ is supposed to go there. That supposition is delayed - to 2025. It's the fault of the rocket, Epsilon-S, which is not a good rocket. Anyway: I have to assume that Phaethon was chosen in the first place because 2024 offered a launch-window where it took five years to get there - Hohmann, most-likely. Since this rock has a period 523.6 days, I calculate our mutual synodic period at 1207.8 days. If they are delaying this launch by one year, I expect longer than five years to get there.
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