Asteroid/Comet Resource Utilization

[csmyth3025]

Your point is well taken. I must have overlooked that one because the last post is over a year old.

Chris

Not really, since the topic was created Sept 1 of this year; just over a month ago...

OOPS! My eyes were reading "2010" and my mind was thinking "2009". It's a good thing I'm not plotting trajectories for Mars missions.

Chris

 

[EarthlingX]

This might be worth to keep an eye on :

ssi.org : SSI Space Manufacturing Conference to Plan Humanity’s Future on High Frontier

Posted on October 7, 2010

by admin

14th Space Studies Institute Conference on Space Manufacturing
and Space Settlement Set for Oct. 29-31 in Silicon Valley

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (Oct 7, 2010) — Space scientists and entrepreneurs will meet in Silicon Valley from Oct. 29-31 to help plan humanity’s future on the high frontier at the Space Studies Institute’s Space Manufacturing 14: Critical Technologies for Space Settlement conference.

During the gathering at the NASA Ames Conference Center and the Sheraton Sunnyvale Hotel, speakers will present a wide range of research topics, including affordable space transportation, extraterrestrial prospecting, lunar and asteroidal manufacturing processes, robotics and tele-operations, closed environment life support systems, space solar power and energy, and off-planet property rights. On Saturday, famed biologist and entrepreneur Craig Venter will give a special talk on synthetic genomics.

“This conference is the only one solely concerned with the science and engineering of humanity’s expansion into the solar system,” said SSI Executive Vice President Lee Valentine. “Its most important function is to bring together the engineers, entrepreneurs and researchers who do the real work.”

...

Agenda for Space Manufacturing 14

 

[EarthlingX]

Another meeting :


spaceref.ca : Our Cosmic Journey - The Importance of Mineral Exploration, Discovery and Development

By Marc Boucher

Posted October 7, 2010 8:29 AM

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Meeting:
7:30 pm, October 14th, H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Vancouver

Title of Talk: "Our Cosmic Journey - The Importance of Mineral Exploration, Discovery and Development"

Abstract:

The wealth from mines, from the dawn of recorded human history, is the epic march of mankind along the path of progress. It was the mines that made ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece and Rome great and in more recent times have created immense wealth to the benefit of the people of Europe, North America, Australia and now China, India, Brazil and Russia.

Georgius Agricola in his "De Re Metallica" published in 1556 stated, "Inasmuch as the chief callings are those of money lender, the soldier, the merchant, the farmer, and miner, I say, inasmuch as usury is odious, while the spoil cruelly captured from the people innocent of wrong is wicked in the sight of God and man, and inasmuch as the calling of the miner excels in honor and dignity that of the merchant trading for lucre, while it is not less noble though far more profitable than agriculture, who can fail to realize that mining is a calling of peculiar dignity."

In Carl Sagan's "Cosmos - Travels in Space and Time (Episode 8), 1989" he stated, "Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sands on all the beaches of the earth - and each of those worlds is as real as ours. In every one of them there is a succession of incidences, events, occurrences which influence its future - countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. Here on our small planet at this moment we face a critical branch point in history. What we do with our world right now will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well within our power to destroy our civilization and perhaps our species as well. If we capitulate to superstition or greed, or stupidity, we can plunge our world into a darkness deeper than the time between the collapse of classical civilization and the Italian Renaissance. But we are also capable of using our compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth, to make an abundant and meaningful life for every inhabitant of this planet - to enhance enormously our understanding of the universe and carry us to the stars."

Today, we are part of the "space generation", crawling off the surface of the earth into the "oceans of space" - mining will continue to provide the capability for humankind to advance to the moon, mars and on to the stars.

 

[scottb50]

Before we can mine an asteroid we have to get to one and find out if mining is even worth the expense. Next we have to get the equipment there and the resources back. Asteroids have been orbited and landed upon, so the basic ground work is done, the next step is either robots with return capabilities or humans, one manned mission could probably learn as much as three or four remote missions so it would probably be cheaper to send people.

What we know about asteroids right now is not nearly enough to start planning mining. Data quantifying composition is educated guesses at best, spectometers and other sensors are getting better and better, but until actual samples are tested it's just guessing.

Realistically we have four choices of where to go, Mars, the moon, asteroids and Comets, Mars is a little more complicated because of it's atmosphere but the other three are technically the same. The only difference at Mars is a landing Module would be needed, the rest of the vehicle could be the same as the others.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Comets are not an option. They are in high relative velocity orbits, with very small, sporadically active surfaces.

 

[Valcan]

, with very small, sporadically active surfaces.

AKA They erupt like a dang volcano when heated by the sun.

 

[Space_pioneer]

, with very small, sporadically active surfaces.

AKA They erupt like a dang volcano when heated by the sun.

Yeah, A comet would be a very bad idea. Especially considering parts of the comets always break apart and fall off when they come close to the sun. So once you manage to somehow outrun the comet and hitch yourself onto it, the part you are on breaks off and you become part of a meteor shower.

 

[csmyth3025]

As I understand it one of the advantages of exploiting NEA's as a resource for mining and processing materials to be used (mainly) in space-based construction activities is the low delta-v needed to reach these objects. In the course of trying to understand this argument I've read the Wikipedia article on the subject of delta-v budget, whiich can be found here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v_budget. I'm perplexed about how this works.

The article indicates that Earth's escape velocity is 11.2 km/sec. and that the velocity of an object such as the ISS in low Earth orbit (~350 km) is about 7.7 km/sec. The article goes on to say that typically 1.5-2 km/sec needs to be added to these figues to account of atmospheric drag when launching from an Earth-based launch facility. So far so good.

To get from LEO to geostationary orbit requires a delta-v of 4.33 km/sec, but to get from LEO to escape velocity requires a delta-v of only 3.22 km/sec. Also, to get from LEO to low lunar orbit requires a delta-v of 4.04 km/sec, but to get to the moon itself requires a delta-v of 5.93 km/sec.

I can't figure out why it takes 1.11 km/sec more delta-v to get from LEO to GEO than it does to escape Earth's gravity altogether. Also, I can't figure out why it takes ~0.3 km/sec more delta-v to get from LEO to GEO than from LEO to LLO.

I noticed that the delta-v to get from LEO to a geostationary transfer (GTO) orbit is 2.5 km.sec. Is the additional delta-v needed to get to GEO, LLO, or the Moon representative of a reduction in velocity (a negative delta-v) from GTO, or am I understanding this wrong?

Chris

 

[neilsox]

LEO = low Earth orbit is about 17,000 miles per hour, escape velocity is somewhat faster; moon orbit is slower and so is GEO orbit = the space craft has to slow to get to orbit. Even more delta v is needed if you want to make the change quickly. Neil

 

[AsimovFan]

Build a giant catcher and put it in orbit, use solar sails.

Use computer calculations to catch asteroids in the "net".

Send nano grinders to grind it into dust. Refine the dust.

Have a "train" of cargo packets always being sent into orbit.
Tethers catch and deploy cargo packets to wherever they are
needed.
Once these systems are built and put in place, they will be
very cheap to keep operating.

Raw refined materials can be used in space to manufacture
anything that is needed.