It was previously thought that small asteroids could be placed into a large bag and baked to get out water and other materials. Experiments performed by Transastra show that this would take too long and need too much energy.
They have found what does work is optical mining. 16 kilowatt light sources focused onto small areas can efficiently produce outgasing in lab tests. They have designed a lot of systems and engineering for robotic asteroid mining.
They have designed a larger system that would fit into a future SpaceX BFR.
If asteroids can provide water and fuel it would reduce the cost of large scale operations in space by four times. NASA could spend $100 billion over two decades using near earth space resources to get the same done as $400 billion where near earth resources were not used.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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This actually looks pretty interesting. Could be helpful for mining ice on the moon also.
This actually looks pretty interesting. Could be helpful for mining ice on the moon also.
There is a lot of money to be made from the asteroid belt. If we estimate global population of 7 billion then everyone would get $100 billion each.
There is a lot of money to be made from the asteroid belt. If we estimate global population of 7 billion then everyone would get $100 billion each.
Most Asteroids are supposedly loose rubble piles (though they might be only talking about small rocks here) with a rubble pile I’d suggest drilling holes and injecting hot hydrogen, it should make its way to the surface, carrying volatiles with it and be captured in the bag.
Most Asteroids are supposedly loose rubble piles (though they might be only talking about small rocks here) with a rubble pile I’d suggest drilling holes and injecting hot hydrogen it should make its way to the surface carrying volatiles with it and be captured in the bag.
Most Asteroids are supposedly loose rubble piles (though they might be only talking about small rocks here) with a rubble pile I’d suggest drilling holes and injecting hot hydrogen, it should make its way to the surface, carrying volatiles with it and be captured in the bag.
Most Asteroids are supposedly loose rubble piles (though they might be only talking about small rocks here) with a rubble pile I’d suggest drilling holes and injecting hot hydrogen it should make its way to the surface carrying volatiles with it and be captured in the bag.
There is a lot of money to be made from the asteroid belt. If we estimate global population of 7 billion then everyone would get $100 billion each.
There is a lot of money to be made from the asteroid belt. If we estimate global population of 7 billion then everyone would get $100 billion each.
Most Asteroids are supposedly loose rubble piles (though they might be only talking about small rocks here) with a rubble pile I’d suggest drilling holes and injecting hot hydrogen, it should make its way to the surface, carrying volatiles with it and be captured in the bag.
This actually looks pretty interesting. Could be helpful for mining ice on the moon also.
This actually looks pretty interesting. Could be helpful for mining ice on the moon also.
There is a lot of money to be made from the asteroid belt. If we estimate global population of 7 billion then everyone would get $100 billion each.
This actually looks pretty interesting. Could be helpful for mining ice on the moon also.