On Tuesday, a new company called Planetary Resources will announce its existence at the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery at The Museum of Flight in Seattle. It's not clear what the firm does, but its roster of backers incudes Google cofounders Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, filmmaker James Cameron, former Microsoftie (and space philanthropist) Charles Simonyi, and Ross frikkin' Perot.According to the company's press release (below):[...] the company will overlay two critical sectors – space exploration and natural resources – to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP. This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of ‘natural resources’.That sounds like asteroid mining. Because what else is there in space that we need here on earth? Certainly not a livable climate or a replacement for our dwindling supplies of oil.
There's already a thread for this: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28675.0
Quote from: Robotbeat on 04/18/2012 05:56 pmThere's already a thread for this: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28675.0This discussion of a commercial venture for ISRU should be based in the Commercial Spaceflight General section, not the General section. All of the threads should be combined or directed to a thread in this section.
Quote from: oldAtlas_Eguy on 04/19/2012 04:30 pmQuote from: Robotbeat on 04/18/2012 05:56 pmThere's already a thread for this: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28675.0This discussion of a commercial venture for ISRU should be based in the Commercial Spaceflight General section, not the General section. All of the threads should be combined or directed to a thread in this section.It's a live news topic, thus it should be in that section until sometime after the official announcement.
Earth’s Other Moons>
... where the speed of the surface at its equator is essentially orbital velocity.
Planetary Resources, a billionaire-backed company that aims to mine asteroids for water and precious metals, says it will set the stage for this grand endeavor by building and launching a series of small, low-cost space telescopes, the first of which it intends to launch in 18-24 months. The space telescope will be based on the same design Planetary Resources will eventually use for its asteroid-prospecting spacecraft: a 30-kilogram to 50-kilogram flier packed with imaging sensors and a laser-optical communication system the company is developing to avoid encumbering its spacecraft with large antennas. The company, which says it has about two dozen employees, will market these spacecraft as cheap but effective telescopes for both astronomical and Earth-observing applications. Sales would provide cash for the company’s core work on asteroid mining, Eric Anderson, co-founder and co-chairman of Planetary Resources, said. The telescope slated for launch sometime in the next two years “would be something, let’s say, a university buys [for astronomical observations], or a commercial company that wants to monitor shipping traffic or something like that,” Anderson said in a phone interview. The cost for the telescope, which Planetary Resources is calling Arkyd-101, would be “millions of dollars, including launch.”
Quote from: sdsds on 04/25/2012 01:35 am... where the speed of the surface at its equator is essentially orbital velocity.That's a quirky thing to try to picture in my head. A bit too early in the morning maybe, I should get some more coffee I never thought about such a scenario as a possibility, but it seems quite cool. So if I'm understanding this right, an astronaut or robot that jumps a little bit off the asteroid at its equator ends up in a sort of geosynchronous orbit around that asteroid?
A technical question about the 100 series:According to the video, the spacecraft uses reaction wheels for pointing, and there is no chemical RCS (ie no thrusters). So, how does a spacecraft without propulsive thrusters de-saturate the reaction wheels?
Interferometry is hard, requires very precise pointing and alignment. I.E. within a tenth of a micron.
Quote from: Danderman on 04/25/2012 05:23 pmA technical question about the 100 series:According to the video, the spacecraft uses reaction wheels for pointing, and there is no chemical RCS (ie no thrusters). So, how does a spacecraft without propulsive thrusters de-saturate the reaction wheels?Speaking of propulsion, is there any indication anyone has seen of what sort the 200 or 300 lines would use? I am wondering if Boeing or someone will be getting a big order for there electric propulsion technology.