#mining asteroids

[entertainmentnerdly]

NASA Invests in Concepts Aimed at Exploring Craters, Mining Asteroids via /r/space http://bit.ly/2X8tJfI

[michaelgabrill]

NASA Invests in Tech Concepts Aimed at Exploring Lunar Craters, Mining Asteroids

Robotically surveying lunar craters in record time and mining resources in space could help NASA establish a sustained human presence at the Moon – part of the agency’s broader Moon to Mars exploration approach. from NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2XE9BiH

[kramlabs]

Chronicling the design of the spacecraft and systems depicted in the book, Delta-v, by Daniel Suarez:

https://www.thespaceresource.com/news/2019/1/mining-thousands-of-tons-of-space-ice-with-queen-bee

“To break up the captured asteroid the mining vehicle uses the Optical Mining process which involves the concentration of sunlight onto a focused region of its rocky surface. Repeated short applications of concentrated light are reflected onto the asteroid which heats the top surface layer of material and its trapped volatiles. Applied heating leads to thermal stress fractures in the material’s surface layer and outgassing of trapped volatiles. Released gaseous volatiles then propel away fractured particles of the asteroid in a process called spalling. The resultant spall particles and outgassed volatiles are then captured and stored separately.

When a captured asteroid is fully spalled for its volatiles, the mining vehicle utilizes the volatiles it extracted as propellant for its journey back to Lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit (LDRO). The trip back is powered by a solar thermal thruster called Omnivore. The Omnivore thruster superheats the volatile propellant by redirecting focused light from the same inflatable solar concentrators used to focus light for the asteroid spalling process.”

Mining Thousands of Tons of Space Ice with Queen Bee

TransAstra Corporation proposed a spacecraft able to deliver five-thousand-tons of water-ice to cislunar space per two-year mission. This is

[java-mocha]

We're one step closer to mining in space thanks to Canada! ...I never thought I would say that. :\

[damonpeters-blog]

[newstfionline]

Company aims to strike it rich by mining asteroids

By Seth Borenstein, AP, Apr 24, 2012 WASHINGTON (AP)--A group of high-tech tycoons wants to mine nearby asteroids, hoping to turn science fiction into real profits.

The mega-million dollar plan is to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals like platinum and gold out of the lifeless rocks that routinely whiz by Earth. One of the company founders predicts they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020.

The inaugural step, to be achieved in the next 18 to 24 months, would be launching the first in a series of private telescopes that would search for rich asteroid targets.

Several scientists not involved in the project said they were simultaneously thrilled and skeptical, calling the plan daring, difficult--and highly expensive. They struggle to see how it could be cost-effective, even with platinum and gold worth nearly $1,600 an ounce. An upcoming NASA mission to return just 2 ounces (60 grams) of an asteroid to Earth will cost about $1 billion.

But the entrepreneurs announcing the project Tuesday in Seattle have a track record of making big money off ventures into space. Company founders Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis pioneered the idea of selling rides into space to tourists and, Diamandis' company offers "weightless" airplane flights.

Investors and advisers to the new company, Planetary Resources Inc. of Seattle, include Google CEO Larry Page and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and explorer and filmmaker James Cameron.

The mining, fuel processing and later refueling would all be done without humans, Anderson said.

"It is the stuff of science fiction, but like in so many other areas of science fiction, it's possible to begin the process of making them reality," said former astronaut Thomas Jones, an adviser to the company.

Asteroids are made mostly of rock and metal and range from a couple of dozen feet wide to nearly 10 miles long. The new venture targets the free-flying asteroids, seeking to extract from them the rare earth platinum metals that are used in batteries, electronics and medical devices, Diamandis said.

Water can be broken down in space to liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for rocket fuel. Water is very expensive to get off the ground so the plan is to take it from an asteroid to a spot in space where it can be converted into fuel. From there, it can easily and cheaply be shipped to Earth orbit for refueling commercial satellites or spaceships from NASA and other countries.

In the past couple of years, NASA and other space agencies have shifted their attention from the moon and other planets toward asteroids. Because asteroids don't have any substantial gravity, targeting them costs less fuel and money than going to the moon, Anderson said in a phone interview.

There are probably 1,500 asteroids that pass near Earth that would be good initial targets. They are at least 160 feet (50 meters) wide, and Anderson figures 10 percent of them have water and other valuable minerals.

"A depot within a decade seems incredible. I hope there will be someone to use it," said Andrew Cheng at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab, who was the chief scientist for a NASA mission to an asteroid a decade ago. "And I have high hopes that commercial uses of space will become profitable beyond Earth orbit. Maybe the time has come."

[miradori]

PLANETARY RESOURCES MINES ASTEROIDS (by SourceFed)

SPACE!

mining asteroids. Also, being done by the private sector, not the goverment. ooooh, exciting!

[bonvoyageamigo-blog]