SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the hard-to-swing-a-pick-in-zero-G dept.
So, you want to be an asteroid miner?
So [Williams] started talking to Christopher Dreyer, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines' Center for Space Resources, a research and technology development center that's existed within the school for more than a decade.
It was good timing. Because this summer, Mines announced its intention to found the world's first graduate program in Space Resources—the science, technology, policy, and politics of prospecting, mining, and using those resources. The multidisciplinary program would offer Post-Baccalaureate certificates and Masters of Science degrees. Although it's still pending approval for a 2018 start date, the school is running its pilot course, taught by Dreyer, this semester.
The focus seems to be on space colonies mining what they need in place, more than bringing material back to Earth.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JNCF on Wednesday December 06 2017, @12:38AM (7 children)
As an ignoramus on the matter of spacecraft manufacturing I ask, in what proportion? Are there are some big bulky pieces we could build in space, and launch the remainder from Earth at first? I see no need for an all-or-nothing approach, but again, I'm an ignoramus.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday December 06 2017, @01:15AM (6 children)
It's a good point that it's not all-or-nothing. But because the conditions are so extreme, pretty much everything used in spacecrafts is some exotic materials blend or alloy, or structure that didn't exist 50 years ago.
Removing the takeoff Gs, and some of the weight constraints (hard because any weight has to be pushed), some of those high-tech materials could be substituted for simpler forms (Fe doesn't rust easily in space), but that's gonna require case-by-case analysis of tradeoffs, and most elements will still be insanely hard to locate/reach/mine/purify, compared to getting a DHL from outer Uzbekistan or Atacama.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:31AM (5 children)
There's plenty of aluminum on the moon...
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:59AM (2 children)
Al is pretty weak, on top of requiring massive amount of energy to extract (at least here). Also reacts in funny ways with mundane things.
Al alloys are as strong as steel, but much lighter. That's what you want. But that means you need those other pure minerals, and a proper alloy manufacturing plant.
The number of people, all around the Earth, who have to do their job right so that assorted raw dirt becomes a working phone, a car, or even a Furby, is absolutely mind-boggling.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @01:36PM (1 child)
So how much strength in the construction do we still need after we've already gotten out of our gravitational well? Most of the structural strength is there for surviving launch, not for simply being in space...
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:10PM
In general, probably less, but it depends on where you're going and how fast you want to accelerate to go there.
Shielding people and electronics is one thing that doesn't change based on your starting point (unless that starting point is close to Jupiter or Saturn). Attaching that shielding to propulsion still requires a decent amount of mechanical parts.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:55PM (1 child)
...alumoonum?
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Wednesday December 06 2017, @06:13PM
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?