Asteroid Mining Architectures

[redliox]

While the Moon and Mars dominate, and likely will continue to dominate, spaceflight plans, the asteroids in general may hold a place still.

Creating this thread so people can discuss asteroid mining and what routes companies, SpaceX or otherwise, could take to obtain materials for Earthly and extraterrestrial use.

My initial thoughts are these: NEOs, regolith, and (16) Psyche.

1) Near-Earth Objects/Asteroids are the inevitable firsts.  Some easy to reach, yields may vary depending on needs (rare earths v.s. water).

2) With many asteroids thick in regolith, any simple method that scoops it up could be the best initial route.  Cross Starship with Pac-Man.

3) Psyche, while not a NEO, would be a major end goal for metal-seekers, with Ceres likewise for water-seekers.  In Psyche's case it's a large concentration of metal not too heavily inclined yet far enough that any effort has to be serious.

Add your own thoughts to the above and anything regarding mining strategies.

[Coopman0]

While the Moon and Mars dominate, and likely will continue to dominate, spaceflight plans, the asteroids in general may hold a place still.

Creating this thread so people can discuss asteroid mining and what routes companies, SpaceX or otherwise, could take to obtain materials for Earthly and extraterrestrial use.

My initial thoughts are these: NEOs, regolith, and (16) Psyche.

1) Near-Earth Objects/Asteroids are the inevitable firsts.  Some easy to reach, yields may vary depending on needs (rare earths v.s. water).

2) With many asteroids thick in regolith, any simple method that scoops it up could be the best initial route.  Cross Starship with Pac-Man.

3) Psyche, while not a NEO, would be a major end goal for metal-seekers, with Ceres likewise for water-seekers.  In Psyche's case it's a large concentration of metal not too heavily inclined yet far enough that any effort has to be serious.

Add your own thoughts to the above and anything regarding mining strategies.

I definitely think that 16 Psyche will be the crown jewel of metal-mining in the asteroid belt. Ceres for water-mining somehow had not crossed my mind but absolutely now that I think about it. As for the large asteroids (bigger than 50 km in diameter), I feel like there will be some kind of regulation involved just to the size and amount of material they have.

[Eer]

So, if the topic is architecture, may we begin with a few categories by which we can distinguish alternatives?

1) Robotic missions
2) crewed missions

3) survey missions
4) mining missions (extraction on location)
5) retriever missions (relocate the entire or substantial chunk to different orbital location for harvesting)

6) refineries

Personally, I see robotic surveys, with a mix of crewed mining and retriever missions used by different commercial teams. Centralized crewed refineries.

Crewed missions will be long term assignments (1-3 years) with some spin-based gravity mechanisms to aid both extraction, refineries, and living.

[Chuck Yokota]

Discussion of mining Psyche or Ceres makes me picture someone, who wants to fill their water bottle, deciding to go to Lake Superior to fill it, because it is the largest body of fresh water on the continent. Asteroids that can fill any foreseeable need for the next few decades can be found in much more accessible orbits.

I picture a mining operation orbiting in the Asteroid Belt, having a wide selection of small asteroids accessible in similar orbits. They would choose some to move to orbit along with the mining operation, to be mined at leisure. Robotic mining machinery can be controlled in real time by operators in a habitation with spin gravity and radiation protection, and brought back as necessary for maintenance or repair.

In the scenario of profitable mining operations, a number of companies will want to have their own mining operation. I have worked out a system, where 8 mining operations equally spaced out in a circular orbit with a period of 3.2 years, would rendezvous with a cycler ship from Earth at each synodic period of 1.45 years. This would take 11 cycler ships in 2-year orbits equally spaced around Earth's orbit. These would all be in economical Hohmann transfer orbits.

[Alberto-Girardi]

Discussion of mining Psyche or Ceres makes me picture someone, who wants to fill their water bottle, deciding to go to Lake Superior to fill it, because it is the largest body of fresh water on the continent. Asteroids that can fill any foreseeable need for the next few decades can be found in much more accessible orbits.

I picture a mining operation orbiting in the Asteroid Belt, having a wide selection of small asteroids accessible in similar orbits. They would choose some to move to orbit along with the mining operation, to be mined at leisure. Robotic mining machinery can be controlled in real time by operators in a habitation with spin gravity and radiation protection, and brought back as necessary for maintenance or repair.

I agree with the first part.


I instead think that the first asteroids mined will be NEOs, between Earth's orbit and Mars's orbit. The mining vehicle could be also refueled with propellant from Mars. IMO an intersting architecture is that of TransAstra, that wants to target small aseteroids (a few meter dimension), to mine them with focused sun light.Extracting from medium size asteroids will be more difficult, so I think it will happen later. IMO a succesful economy could be started is the extraction of minerals/volatiles on these asteroids is cheaper than shipping them from eart to the Mars Colony. So the mars colony will pay for asteroid material, and they will build and launch new miners. Obviusly this is very far fetched.

[Chuck Yokota]

I agree that NEOs will be the first asteroids mined, brought to lunar or Earth orbit. This will be essential for development of the equipment and methods for resource extraction.

However, once the feasibility of asteroid mining is demonstrated, NEOs will not be an attractive choice for the asteroid mining businesses that will spring up. Between years-long wait between launch windows, the preliminary robotic missions, the process of launch, rendezvous, and capture, and the years-long return path, it would be a decade or longer before the asteroid is available for mining. Plus any malfunction along the way could end or seriously delay the mission. The businesses will not gamble on what the market and competitive situation will be a decade in advance.

A crewed mining operation in the Asteroid Belt can adjust to market conditions as foreseen a year or two in advance, and maintain production despite the inevitable malfunctions of the mining equipment.

[TrevorMonty]

I agree that NEOs will be the first asteroids mined, brought to lunar or Earth orbit. This will be essential for development of the equipment and methods for resource extraction.

However, once the feasibility of asteroid mining is demonstrated, NEOs will not be an attractive choice for the asteroid mining businesses that will spring up. Between years-long wait between launch windows, the preliminary robotic missions, the process of launch, rendezvous, and capture, and the years-long return path, it would be a decade or longer before the asteroid is available for mining. Plus any malfunction along the way could end or seriously delay the mission. The businesses will not gamble on what the market and competitive situation will be a decade in advance.

A crewed mining operation in the Asteroid Belt can adjust to market conditions as foreseen a year or two in advance, and maintain production despite the inevitable malfunctions of the mining equipment.

Cost of delivering and supporting crew at Asteriod belt would cost $Bs. For same money you coud fly dozens of robotic mining vehicles. Result would be stuff returning to earth 2-4 times a year, would also allow for odd failure. Upfront costs are lower as only need to build single vehicle to start earning money.

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[Chuck Yokota]

Cost of delivering and supporting crew at Asteriod belt would cost $Bs. For same money you coud fly dozens of robotic mining vehicles. Result would be stuff returning to earth 2-4 times a year, would also allow for odd failure. Upfront costs are lower as only need to build single vehicle to start earning money.

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You have a lot more confidence than I have about the ability of robotic missions to extract a meaningful amount of material. It is probably pointless to debate the issue now. Future missions will show which of us is more correct, and the mining enterprises will act on the experience gained.

[Twark_Main]

TransAstra seems to have the most technically feasible asteroid mining architecture out there.







Their system breaks the asteroid into tiny pieces using concentrated sunlight. By using a centrifugal separator to sort this spall by density, you could effectively create a process that's the opposite of the Iron Catastrophe (which is the reason why metals are so scarce in Earth's crust to begin with). By selecting particles with high density, you "auto-magically" select particles with high economic value.

It's a paradox that we call Earth's differentiation by density a "catastrophe," because without it we wouldn't even exist. If the Earth's crust had been as rich in iron as the asteroid belt, it would have taken too long for Earth's cyanobacteria to complete the Great Oxygenation Event (far longer than the lifespan of the Sun), which would mean no multicellular life on Earth. So really we should call it the Iron Miracle!

Fun fact: if we brought 16 Psyche's infamous "100 quadrillion dollars worth of metals" back to Earth, that'd be enough iron to completely consume all the free oxygen in Earth's atmosphere.

[Vultur]

  By selecting particles with high density, you "auto-magically" select particles with high economic value.

That's pretty cool!

I wonder - given how "broken up" asteroids visited by spacecraft seem to be -  what would you get if you just spin-separated an asteroid, without any further shattering?

It's a paradox that we call Earth's differentiation by density a "catastrophe,"

I think it just means "sudden dramatic change", eg "oxygen catastrophe", "ultraviolet catastrophe". The "oxygen catastrophe" seems to be called the "Great Oxygenation Event" more often now, so maybe this use of "catastrophe" is a bit obsolete?

[cdebuhr]

  By selecting particles with high density, you "auto-magically" select particles with high economic value.

That's pretty cool!

I wonder - given how "broken up" asteroids visited by spacecraft seem to be -  what would you get if you just spin-separated an asteroid, without any further shattering?

It's a paradox that we call Earth's differentiation by density a "catastrophe,"

I think it just means "sudden dramatic change", eg "oxygen catastrophe", "ultraviolet catastrophe". The "oxygen catastrophe" seems to be called the "Great Oxygenation Event" more often now, so maybe this use of "catastrophe" is a bit obsolete?

If you were extant life in the Archean the Great Oxygenation Event was ... a catastrophe.  Oh sure, we love oxygen, because we can handle it.  But it you don;t already have the bio-mechanical machinery in place to deal with it, its just awful stuff.  It's really kind of shocking just how much biochemistry goes into allowing aerobic organisms like us to survive in such a corrosive, toxic environment.  The Great Oxygenation Event (what I've always heard it called) was arguably the greatest ecological crisis the planet has ever faced.

As for the Ultraviolet Catastrophe, that doesn't refer to a change in anything.  During early theoretical work to explain the features of the black-body spectrum, there was a problem in that the early theoretical models that matched the low-energy end of the spectrum made nonsensical predictions about emissions of higher-energy radiation (i.e., ultraviolet, x-rays, ...).  The predictions were so bad that they were "a catastrophe".  The problem was solved by a truly bizarre (for the time) assumption made by Max Planck about how electromagnetic radiation was emitted.  While the assumption seemed kind of out there, it completely fixed the predicted black-body spectrum, and was later confirmed to be an accurate model of physical reality.  So was born the field of quantum mechanics.

[savantu]

Might sound crazy, but is there any way to control crash an asteroid in a desert for example ?

[Chuck Yokota]

Crash, yes. Control, no. The asteroid would hit with at least Earth's escape velocity, creating a large crater, and bury most of itself deep underground, while scattering bits of material in the surrounding area.

Consider Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. A nickel-iron asteroid 30 to 50 meters across struck there. The resulting blast was equal to a 20 to 40 megaton nuclear bomb, except without ionizing radiation. Plant and animal life was destroyed for 50 kilometers away.

Attempts to mine the material in the early 20th century failed. More mining was accomplished mid-century, mining the silica sands exposed in the crater.

Anyway, only the trace amount of precious metal would have much value on Earth. The asteroid material would be much more valuable in space, as valuable raw material.

[TrevorMonty]

Moon is covered in craters from crashed metallitic asteroids, some may contain intact cores of asteroid.

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[Chuck Yokota]

Moon is covered in craters from crashed metallitic asteroids, some may contain intact cores of asteroid.

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The asteroid cores will be buried hundreds to thousands of meters below the surface. These will be very expensive to reach. It will be more practical to gather shards blasted out during impact. Pieces of all sizes up to tons will be lying on or just under the surface.

[Slarty1080]

TransAstra seems to have the most technically feasible asteroid mining architecture out there.







Their system breaks the asteroid into tiny pieces using concentrated sunlight. By using a centrifugal separator to sort this spall by density, you could effectively create a process that's the opposite of the Iron Catastrophe (which is the reason why metals are so scarce in Earth's crust to begin with). By selecting particles with high density, you "auto-magically" select particles with high economic value.

It's a paradox that we call Earth's differentiation by density a "catastrophe," because without it we wouldn't even exist. If the Earth's crust had been as rich in iron as the asteroid belt, it would have taken too long for Earth's cyanobacteria to complete the Great Oxygenation Event (far longer than the lifespan of the Sun), which would mean no multicellular life on Earth. So really we should call it the Iron Miracle!

Fun fact: if we brought 16 Psyche's infamous "100 quadrillion dollars worth of metals" back to Earth, that'd be enough iron to completely consume all the free oxygen in Earth's atmosphere.

Sounds like the spalling process would effectively act like froth floatation does in mining on Earth for separating minerals (but without the froth!). An interesting idea although I wonder how great the concentration of valuable minerals would be? I would be difficult to be very selective unless the particle size was very small.

[Twark_Main]

[snip]

Sounds like the spalling process would effectively act like froth floatation does in mining on Earth for separating minerals (but without the froth!). An interesting idea although I wonder how great the concentration of valuable minerals would be? I would be difficult to be very selective unless the particle size was very small.

You can get an idea of the particle size in this video (@21:57, in case the link doesn't work):



Not too small. The particle size could possibly be improved by tweaking the light intensity.

If necessary you might coax the spall through a roller mill. Perhaps a "sandwich" of two conveyor belts?

[Chuck Yokota]

Sounds like the spalling process would effectively act like froth floatation does in mining on Earth for separating minerals (but without the froth!). An interesting idea although I wonder how great the concentration of valuable minerals would be? I would be difficult to be very selective unless the particle size was very small.

TransAstra's aim is extracting volatiles from the asteroids, for water and the precursors for rocket fuel. The solid material is basically a byproduct, useful for radiation shielding. Dr. Sercel barely mentions the possibility of extracting valuable solid materials. Asteroid mining for valuable metals would target different classes of asteroids, and probably use different technologies.

[TrevorMonty]

Sounds like the spalling process would effectively act like froth floatation does in mining on Earth for separating minerals (but without the froth!). An interesting idea although I wonder how great the concentration of valuable minerals would be? I would be difficult to be very selective unless the particle size was very small.

TransAstra's aim is extracting volatiles from the asteroids, for water and the precursors for rocket fuel. The solid material is basically a byproduct, useful for radiation shielding. Dr. Sercel barely mentions the possibility of extracting valuable solid materials. Asteroid mining for valuable metals would target different classes of asteroids, and probably use different technologies.

Water is first and most import product, for without fuel for in space transport there is no way to economically harvest other materials from asteriods.

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[Alberto-Girardi]

Sounds like the spalling process would effectively act like froth floatation does in mining on Earth for separating minerals (but without the froth!). An interesting idea although I wonder how great the concentration of valuable minerals would be? I would be difficult to be very selective unless the particle size was very small.

TransAstra's aim is extracting volatiles from the asteroids, for water and the precursors for rocket fuel. The solid material is basically a byproduct, useful for radiation shielding. Dr. Sercel barely mentions the possibility of extracting valuable solid materials. Asteroid mining for valuable metals would target different classes of asteroids, and probably use different technologies.

Water is first and most import product, for without fuel for in space transport there is no way to economically harvest other materials from asteriods.

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I agree. I can see a business case of shipping water to Mars from asteroids, if mining on Mars turns out to bee to difficult to provide large aumouts needed to refuel a lot of SS. BTW, trans astra architecture is based on SS to launch the robots, so seing the SS progres is very good for them.