In which I talk about another idea for mining metals for asteroids...
So a lot of people know I have an interest in space: I've been a lifelong amateur astronomer, I originally studied optics and planetary science in college and I recently had the privilege of helping Skybox Imaging work out some of the kinks in their flight control system. And if you've spent any time with me recently, you know it's hard to get me to stop talking about some of the recent developments in "New Space" (click on that link if you're unfamiliar with the term, it's worth the few minutes it will take.)
Today we heard about the launch Deep Space Industries, the second of two major companies focused on harvesting ice and metals from asteroids. Sure, it sounds like science fiction, and it probably is in the near term. But in the medium and long term, the only reason it sounds like fiction is simply that no one's done it before.
DSI has an interesting idea: instead of sending astronauts or robot miners to the asteroids, they want to bring small asteroids into High Earth Orbit where human beings can have a much easier way of getting to them. Rather than spend six months travelling to your target, a year there and six months back, you spend a couple years tugging a relatively small 5 or 10 meter asteroid here where it only takes a couple days to get to.
Cool stuff.
Planetary Resources, who announced their plan to mine asteroids last year, has a slightly different (perhaps more obvious) plan: just go to a small asteroid and mine it.
Also very cool.
But as cool as both these companies are, they're both planning on doing a lot of prospecting before they start mining operations. Sure... you have to do some prospecting, but both companies are planning on launching constellations of small satellites to search for appropriate candidates before engaging in extraction operations.
This seems a little wasteful to me. Given the time value of money, the sooner you can turn a profit, the better. So why spend several years looking for small asteroids when asteroid 16 Psyche seems to be a large chunk of nickel-iron floating out in space?
If your plan was to scrape metal off 16 Psyche and bring it back to Earth orbit, you would still need to develop the technology for mining in space. And it's unlikely you could make a mining robot without sending at least one prospector craft to get a good look at your mining site. But, instead of spending time looking for a candidate, you would be developing deep space mine-bots.
I call this plan "Psyche Direct" (apologies to Robert Zubrin.)
So a lot of people know I have an interest in space: I've been a lifelong amateur astronomer, I originally studied optics and planetary science in college and I recently had the privilege of helping Skybox Imaging work out some of the kinks in their flight control system. And if you've spent any time with me recently, you know it's hard to get me to stop talking about some of the recent developments in "New Space" (click on that link if you're unfamiliar with the term, it's worth the few minutes it will take.)
Today we heard about the launch Deep Space Industries, the second of two major companies focused on harvesting ice and metals from asteroids. Sure, it sounds like science fiction, and it probably is in the near term. But in the medium and long term, the only reason it sounds like fiction is simply that no one's done it before.
DSI has an interesting idea: instead of sending astronauts or robot miners to the asteroids, they want to bring small asteroids into High Earth Orbit where human beings can have a much easier way of getting to them. Rather than spend six months travelling to your target, a year there and six months back, you spend a couple years tugging a relatively small 5 or 10 meter asteroid here where it only takes a couple days to get to.
Cool stuff.
Planetary Resources, who announced their plan to mine asteroids last year, has a slightly different (perhaps more obvious) plan: just go to a small asteroid and mine it.
Also very cool.
But as cool as both these companies are, they're both planning on doing a lot of prospecting before they start mining operations. Sure... you have to do some prospecting, but both companies are planning on launching constellations of small satellites to search for appropriate candidates before engaging in extraction operations.
This seems a little wasteful to me. Given the time value of money, the sooner you can turn a profit, the better. So why spend several years looking for small asteroids when asteroid 16 Psyche seems to be a large chunk of nickel-iron floating out in space?
If your plan was to scrape metal off 16 Psyche and bring it back to Earth orbit, you would still need to develop the technology for mining in space. And it's unlikely you could make a mining robot without sending at least one prospector craft to get a good look at your mining site. But, instead of spending time looking for a candidate, you would be developing deep space mine-bots.
I call this plan "Psyche Direct" (apologies to Robert Zubrin.)
- Develop the prospector craft.
- Send the prospector craft to 16 Psyche.
- Begin developing mine-bots (bus, power, return craft, etc.)
- Analyze results from prospector, use them to refine the mine-bots.
- Send the mine-bot to 16 Psyche.
- Return to Earth orbit with metals.
- Profit!
I just wanted to get this idea out there and see if anyone has comments... More to come!
oh! cool! someone else has a very similar idea: here's the Karge Explorer Project: https://www.facebook.com/KargeExplorerProject
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