The Tech We'll Need to Mine Asteroids

ASTEROID MINING INFRASTRUCTURE

1. Orbital Transportation Hub

A larger, manned space station is an ideal place to coordinate flights of cargo, mining gear, and explorers.

2. Space Fuel Depot

Spacefarers will need places to restock water and hydrogen for fuel (think space gas stations). Scientists today are working on ways to transfer fluids in zero-g.

3. Deep-Space Communication Relay

Optical laser communications systems transmit as much data as radios and can use half the power. Planetary Resources is developing a system under contract with NASA.

SPACE MINERS WANT TWO THINGS:

Water

A 23-foot-diameter carbonaceous chondrite (C-type) asteroid can hold 24,000 gallons of water, which could be used to make rocket fuel or replenish spacefarers.

Metals

A 79-foot-wide metal (M-type) asteroid could hold 33,000 tons of extractable metals, including $50 million worth of platinum alone. But can a mining spacecraft cut off treasure from these metal objects?

OUR RICH SOLAR SYSTEM

Between 2009 and 2011, a NASA space telescope called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) cataloged asteroids in our solar system. It found:

More than 100,000 previously unknown asteroids in the belt between Mars and Jupiter.

19,500 midsize near-Earth asteroids.

4700 large, potentially hazardous asteroids that cross within a cosmically close 5 million miles of Earth's path. (NASA estimates that it has cataloged only 30 percent of them.)

SPACE MINING TECH

Magnetic Rake

There is no need to dig mines to gather precious metals from space rocks. By placing a magnet on each prong of the rake, loose regolith (asteroid soil) can be combed easily for precious metals in low gravity.

Low-Gravity Sifters

Old-school gold miners rejoice. In 2009 scientists used a vibration table to shake soil through a sieve to separate the particles that would burn most efficiently in an oven; heated asteroidal material releases oxygen. The system worked in zero-g, simulated by parabolic flights of an airplane.

Asteroid Anchors

With almost no gravity, asteroids won't be easy to land on, let alone allow for operating drills and other mining equipment. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing steel "toenails"; Honeybee Robotics is creating screw-in augers to keep space machinery from floating away.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/news/the-tech-well-need-to-mine-asteroids-11644892?src=rss

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