Asteroid Mining

[hitchcockgreen]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 04210.html

We're making steps closer, it seems....

[FFAxTomcat480]

!!!!!!Fun

[hitchcockgreen]

I read this article elsewhere first and I can't remember what size they were looking at first but planned to "ramp up" to a 7 meter asteroid on the second attempt.
Starting out small. The 7 meter asteroid would weigh about 500 tonnes.

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[Blunt Force Trauma]

Yea, I tried a bit to get the BZM boys to discuss it a bit.

[FFAxTomcat480]

500 tonnes.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Yea, it sounded a bit high for me too for a 7 meter metal rock. But I did a quick and sloppy calculation and it works.

Raw Iron ~470 cu ft, with some other metals like Nickel, Cobalt, Platinum, etc. thrown in . . . with some potential voids and some light, non-metal aggregate, and the sloppiness of saying there's 27 cubic feet in a cubic meter, let's go with a very conservative 350lb a cubic foot.

350lb x 27 = 9,450lb / 2000lb (1 ton) = 4.73 tons per ~ square meter
(sphere vol = 4 / 3 pi x r^3) ---> .75 x 3.1415 x 3.5m^3 = 180cu/m
180 x 4.73 = 851 tons

[hitchcockgreen]

500 tonnes.

On the scale of things, 500 tonnes isn't much.

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[FFAxTomcat480]

On scale of things it's small, but still a lot

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Yea, it is all how you want to perceive it.

The world mines about 2 billion tons of iron ore annually. So a 500 ton meteor is not worth the effort beyond honing the skills of a privateer ramping up for a big score.

My biggest question would be; How will we get dozens of tons, possibly hundreds of tons to the surface each trip? Disposable aero-glide husks? Set large chunks on a minimal friction re-entry slope and take the ~10% loss from melting and let it impact somewhere like the Sahara? Lower a chunk partially down into the atmosphere on a nano cable and then release it to minimize the loss? We're talking about transferring tens of thousands of tons a year down to the surface to make it financially feasible. I did a quick calc., and the 7 mile metal asteroid, Amun 3554 has >8 quadrillion tons of metal IF it is >95% metal of some kind or another. Even if a full space mining industry could equal the Earth's annual mined iron ore, it would take tens of thousands of years to finish.

. . . [[[edit]]] . . .

LOL, oh crap, I was looking at a 7 mile rock . . . Amun 3554 is about 1 mile.

[hitchcockgreen]

Two words: space elevator.

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[Blunt Force Trauma]

That's certainly a solution. . .if it/they ever get built. That -seems- a minimum of 2 decades off, probably 3.

But again, once the singularity hits, all bets are off.

[hitchcockgreen]

We are getting a lot closer.
It won't be a matter of tech advancement but a group (be it private or government) willingness to invest.

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[Sno]

Don't expect the US to invest in something beneficial anymore after we just invested $90k to use spinach instead of wafers for solar power cells.



http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/26/spin ... lar-cells/

[hitchcockgreen]

No unfortunately the future of space exploration and exploitation is out of the American public's hands.

Its all China and private corporations now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbIZU8cQWXc


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[Blunt Force Trauma]

Here's something from a couple weeks ago, Tyson speaking compassionately about the dream we've lost and desperately need to get back. Well worth 40 minutes.

Also, while off the subject a bit, THIS recent discussion between Dawkins and Krauss in front of 3000 students and facility at Arizona State is pretty good.

[hitchcockgreen]

Haha yes. I love the "something from nothing" argument....even if that is mostly misconstrued...
Any discussion like that in Arizona is a good thing.
They've recently been taking the prize for most a**-backwards state.

I'll queue up the Tyson speech. That guy is today's Sagan.

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[Blunt Force Trauma]

The aspect of the discussion I find fascinating, as well as their ongoing collaboration, is Krauss handles the early esoteric origins of space and time and also sets the stage for Dawkins to take over with the organic transition into the universe coming to know itself.

[FirBirGir]

My biggest question would be; How will we get dozens of tons, possibly hundreds of tons to the surface each trip? Disposable aero-glide husks? Set large chunks on a minimal friction re-entry slope and take the ~10% loss from melting and let it impact somewhere like the Sahara? Lower a chunk partially down into the atmosphere on a nano cable and then release it to minimize the loss? We're talking about transferring tens of thousands of tons a year down to the surface to make it financially feasible. I did a quick calc., and the 7 mile metal asteroid, Amun 3554 has >8 quadrillion tons of metal IF it is >95% metal of some kind or another. Even if a full space mining industry could equal the Earth's annual mined iron ore, it would take tens of thousands of years to finish.

The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress

Good read if you haven't read it yet. The book describes how ore mined from the moon was delivered to Earth and why it wouldn't be used in reality. Dropping "rocks" onto Earth into uninhabited areas would work, but who's doing the aiming and what if that person decided to aim elsewhere?

Eddy

[hitchcockgreen]

Space elevator!

Of course, sabotage of a space elevator would have some pretty nasty results.

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[Sno]

As if the elevator music wouldn't be sabotage in itself