Mining Asteroids

[Eric Mc]

It's great that we have REAL entrepeneurs willing to invest in a business that may not make a return within their own lifetime.
Making an investment in humanity is much more important than looking for a 5 year ROI in The City.

[MartG]

Bedazzled said:

If grinding up a one-ton chunk of regolith generates less than an ounce of platinum, the economics of mining above the Earth's gravity well look decidedly rocky. Cool idea though, let's do it anyway.

Depends which asteroid you decide to mine - a lot are just lumps of rock, but others have been found ( using spectroscopy ) to be almost pure nickel-iron

[SystemParanoia]

slap a big enough induction coil round it and you can melt it down and process it without needing to dig anything

[MartG]

SystemParanoia said:

slap a big enough induction coil round it and you can melt it down and process it without needing to dig anything

Or use a big parabolic mirror to melt it with solar power

[SystemParanoia]

MartG said:

SystemParanoia said:

slap a big enough induction coil round it and you can melt it down and process it without needing to dig anything

Or use a big parabolic mirror to melt it with solar power

only problem with that is using direct solar activity to melt them would be that you would cause it the thrust away from you unpredictably where the sunlight scorches its surface.

with the coils you can hold it in place with solar/nuclear powered super conducting electro magnets while you proceed to melt the crap out of it.

also you can zip it into a ( giant ) tent before s/melting and capture all of the escaped gases for separate processing... more profit

[MartG]

SystemParanoia said:

also you can zip it into a ( giant ) tent before s/melting and capture all of the escaped gases for separate processing... more profit

If you're going to do that, you could make the enclosure a rigid cylinder, with a refractory lining, and spin it so once melted the asteroid material could be separated by centrifugal force according to density, and tapped off at the rim.

( not my idea - read it in a novel by physicist Charles Sheffield )

[SystemParanoia]

sounds good...
could combine the 2 ideas, using the ( fire/inferno-proof ) tent idea to construct the solid metalwork one.


wouldn't want it in orbit though ( way too much mass to babysit! ).. Lagrange point 4 or 5 should be a good location for it.. may even be some trojan 'roids there to get started with

[Eric Mc]

I keep thinking of Blake's 7. Wasn't Blake being transported to an asteroid mine when he made his escape?

[qube_TA]

Daft question, how would they know which asteroids to mine? There's one or two out there, they can't all be winners.

[Eric Mc]

qube_TA said:

Daft question, how would they know which asteroids to mine? There's one or two out there, they can't all be winners.

There are huindreds of thousands out there, and at least 10,000 that are classified as "near earth".

Analysis of the chemical composition of their surfaces can be done remotely - either from earth or from space based devices such as earthe orbiting satellites or asteroid probes. Some of this has already been done.

[maffski]

Eric Mc said:

qube_TA said:

Daft question, how would they know which asteroids to mine? There's one or two out there, they can't all be winners.

There are huindreds of thousands out there, and at least 10,000 that are classified as "near earth".

Analysis of the chemical composition of their surfaces can be done remotely - either from earth or from space based devices such as earthe orbiting satellites or asteroid probes. Some of this has already been done.

And this is really what they've anounced they're doing. They plan to launch some telescopes to map the composition of various asteroids. Presumeably they can then lay a 'claim' against the ones they think are worth while and figure out how to mine them later.

[Eric Mc]

Laying "claims" may be legally difficult due to current space law. But until we have a "Space Patrol" I don't see what anyone can do about claims on and exploitation of planetary bodies.

If there ever is a Space Patrol, I want to join up

[SystemParanoia]

get in line!

[MartG]

As Eric says, I think current space law precludes any country from claiming an astronomical body in its entirety - not sure if there are any provisions for commercial exploitation though

[Eric Mc]

Could be a handy little earner for the United Nations - allocating mining rights to planets, moons and asteroids.

[davepoth]

I heard yesterday that the current cost of a kilo of water in low earth orbit is $100,000. The idea behind this is mainly that once an icy asteroid has been mined and the water turned into hydrogen and oxygen, it makes it orders of magnitude cheaper to explore the solar system since you have a ready source of fuel in orbit.

[SystemParanoia]

lots of ice in orbit around Saturn

[Use Psychology]

Bedazzled said:

If grinding up a one-ton chunk of regolith generates less than an ounce of platinum, the economics of mining above the Earth's gravity well look decidedly rocky. Cool idea though, let's do it anyway.

you don't get much more from 1 tonne of earth rock though, right?

[Huff]

Yes but without the massive gravitational potential well in the way.

One thing that I would like to live far, far longer than 1 standard mean human lifetime for is getting to see and do this stuff. I can imagine it, but the reality of stepping-off this Rock at will to go play ... millennia away, if ever

[MartG]

Huff said:

One thing that I would like to live far, far longer than 1 standard mean human lifetime

Well some medical folk think that living in low gravity ( as opposed to zero G ) could have the effect of extending human life for various reasons, such as the reduced load on the heart, less stress on bones and joints, etc.

Anyone else want to retire to the moon ?