Diamandis and Simonyi Planetary Resources Company Announcement and Notes

[BrightLight]

From the paper, a 7 m diameter asteroid has a lower-bound mass of 250,000 kg, by good luck it is platinum or gold. Here on earth at $1500 per once the market value of the metal is over 13 billion dollars.
Steel on the other hand (iron-nickel) would be worth about $175,000 per 250,000kg (@$700 per ton). If the asteroid is titanium its worth 9 million.
If you get lucky, you might get rich!

[Robotbeat]

From the paper, a 7 m diameter asteroid has a lower-bound mass of 250,000 kg, by good luck it is platinum or gold. Here on earth at $1500 per once the market value of the metal is over 13 billion dollars.
Steel on the other hand (iron-nickel) would be worth about $175,000 per 250,000kg (@$700 per ton). If the asteroid is titanium its worth 9 million.
If you get lucky, you might get rich!

No way you'd have a 7m diameter asteroid made of pure platinum or gold... The best they can hope for is a very enriched gold or platinum or rare-earth element ore. BTW, Nickel is worth A LOT more than steel (~$15-20/kg).

The idea in the paper isn't to mine such a small asteroid to return it to Earth, but to study it and use it to test mining techniques and ISRU extraction of volatiles (they aren't targeting a metallic asteroid) and oxygen, of which there may be a couple hundred tons in just that one asteroid. But primarily it'd be a demonstration and scientific mission. The big money comes when you can do this to several asteroids or slightly larger ones. Then, when your techniques become focused, you can perhaps extract the resources in deep space and only send back the refined products (i.e. beneficiated platinum/gold/etc/REE ore or even refined metals, propellants, etc) to the cislunar neighborhood.

[gin455res]

What options are there for ISRU to manufacture ion engine propellants?

Can iron be melted and then ionized?
What about iron carbonyl?

[QuantumG]

From the paper.

The  proposed Asteroid Capture  and Return mission would  impact  an  impressive  range  of NASA
interests  including:  the  establishment  of  an  accessible,  high-value  target  in  cislunar  space;  near-term
operational  experience  with  astronaut  crews  in  the  vicinity  of  an  asteroid;  a  new  synergy  between
robotic and human missions in which robotic spacecraft return resources for human exploitation and use
in space; the potential to jump-start an entire industry based on in situ resource utilization; expansion of
international  cooperation  in  space;  and  planetary  defense.  It  has  the  potential  for  cost  effectively
providing  sufficient  radiation  shielding  to protect astronauts  from galactic cosmic  rays  and  to provide
the  propellant  necessary  to  transport  the  resulting  shielded  habitats.  It  would  endow  NASA  and  its
partners  with  a  new  capability  in  deep  space  that  hasn’t  been  seen  since  Apollo.  Ever  since  the
completion of the cold-war-based Apollo program there has been no over-arching geo-political rationale
for  the nation’s  space ventures.   Retrieving an asteroid  for human exploration and exploitation would
provide a new rationale for global achievement and inspiration. For the first time humanity would begin
modification of the heavens for its benefit.

[savuporo]

Its important to remember that for all the talk, ISRU has never been done yet. Not even a little, any sort, anywhere. The closest that we have are the field tests that have been going on in Hawaii.

[Robotbeat]

What options are there for ISRU to manufacture ion engine propellants?

Can iron be melted and then ionized?
What about iron carbonyl?

Hydrogen, of course. And nitrogen can probably work as well. I've even heard of oxygen being used as an electric thruster propellant (though obviously that'd have very difficult materials requirements... probably not practical).

But that's a little cart-before-the-horse. The paper talks about launching with all the propellant that they'll need, at least in that initial mission (which isn't by Planetary Resources but instead coauthored by one of the people who will be doing the announcement on the 24th... with a lot of other help as well). But the paper is useful for getting a rough idea of what they might be thinking about.

And savuporo is right. Part of the point of the mission in the paper was to provide a convenient (both delta-v and delta-t) place to test out ISRU techniques on a real target.

[HIP2BSQRE]

As pointed out --testing techniques is the real purpose of this excerise.  Think of the marketing potential as well...Once they have this down pat--they think that they can get bigger one for approx. $1b,  Expensive no??  Think of how much NASA, unversities might pay for scientific data let alone for the materiel. How much would it cost NASA to move that much mass to the high moon orbit?  I think that they said that it might lower the cost by 1/8th and that is with a small rock.  Next time they can get a bigger rock. :-)  There are tons of spin-offs--play on words--shielding, oxygen, etc.

[grdja]

Could someone with real asteroid geology knowledge please answer me this.

Do small lumps or native metals (or very pure ores) exist in the main belt? So instead of searching for a million ton rock with high quality nickle ore you find a individual couple hundred lump of PGMs or something similarly expesnvie? My basic knowledge of geology says things like that should exist, with that either being their primordial state or as product of larger rocks smashing to fragments over eons.

And secondly. Do we have any chance of finding say, a  10 to 100 ton lump of pure gold/platinum/iridium.

[HappyMartian]

Its important to remember that for all the talk, ISRU has never been done yet. Not even a little, any sort, anywhere. The closest that we have are the field tests that have been going on in Hawaii.

Solar energy in space, the Moon, and Mars is an extremely valuable form of ISRU that has also been used for a long time...

     

[simonbp]

I have a hunch it may have something to do with this:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28582.msg884168#msg884168

[jabe]

no one has mentioned that the kiss study rocket needs 12 tonnes of Xenon..wonder if market can supply that easily?
jb

[Robotbeat]

no one has mentioned that the kiss study rocket needs 12 tonnes of Xenon..wonder if market can supply that easily?
jb

Of course, with enough lead-time (there's an unlimited amount available via fractional distillation of the atmosphere).

There's also the option of Krypton, which isn't quite as ideal (lower density, slightly less efficiency), but can operate at higher Isps for a given acceleration voltage and is one-tenth the cost of Xenon (keep in mind the cost of the Xenon at $1000-$3000/kg is still only a fraction of the cost of launch). They're definitely going to be operating at high Isp, given the long length of the mission (optimal Isp for electric propulsion is generally proportional to the square root of the thrusting time, which is ten years in the paper).

Argon works, too, and is very cheap.

[Bill White]

Lot's of wild speculation here. My guess is that we'll see at least six pages filled with speculation before we hit the press-conference on the 24th.

Six pages? Nah, no way.

Maybe sixty pages! 

[strangequark]

Of course, with enough lead-time (there's an unlimited amount available via fractional distillation of the atmosphere).

There's also the option of Krypton, which isn't quite as ideal (lower density, slightly less efficiency), but can operate at higher Isps for a given acceleration voltage and is one-tenth the cost of Xenon (keep in mind the cost of the Xenon at $1000-$3000/kg is still only a fraction of the cost of launch). They're definitely going to be operating at high Isp, given the long length of the mission (optimal Isp for electric propulsion is generally proportional to the square root of the thrusting time, which is ten years in the paper).

Argon works, too, and is very cheap.

As does Air, Bismuth, Iodine, Zinc, Magnesium, Hydrogen, Ammonia, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Helium, Phlebotinum, etc.

For Hall Thrusters, I've heard that Krypton and Xenon are considered equivalent from an efficiency perspective at high (>50 kW) power levels. Of course, this mission is going to be in more of the sweet spot for gridded ion engines.

[ChefPat]

Too bad they couldn't use a Project Timberwind engine on this type of mission.

[Robotbeat]

Too bad they couldn't use a Project Timberwind engine on this type of mission.

It would weigh a lot more. Would return a much smaller payload for a given launch mass compared to these solar electric craft which have a much higher Isp.

And would be a lot more expensive.

[ChefPat]

Too bad they couldn't use a Project Timberwind engine on this type of mission.

It would weigh a lot more. Would return a much smaller payload for a given launch mass compared to these solar electric craft which have a much higher Isp.

And would be a lot more expensive.

How about a Bimodal MITEE instead of a Timberwind Engine?

[Robotbeat]

Too bad they couldn't use a Project Timberwind engine on this type of mission.

It would weigh a lot more. Would return a much smaller payload for a given launch mass compared to these solar electric craft which have a much higher Isp.

And would be a lot more expensive.

How about a Bimodal MITEE instead of a Timberwind Engine?

That'd be a lot heavier, still. For propulsion in the inner solar system and for mission coast lengths measured in years, solar electric wins every time, basically.

[robertross]

First .. Hello to the Forum .. My first post.

A little update

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27776/

Its not Arkyd Astronautics but Planetary Resources Inc. that will be announced.

http://www.planetaryresources.com/ 

Nothing on their page right now other than the 24th April date.

Full release

Space Exploration Company to Expand Earth's Resource Base

WHAT:             Join visionary Peter H. Diamandis, M.D.; leading commercial space entrepreneur Eric Anderson; former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki; and planetary scientist & veteran NASA astronaut Tom Jones, Ph.D. on Tuesday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. PDT in Seattle, or via webcast, as they unveil a new space venture with a mission to help ensure humanity's prosperity.

                        Supported by an impressive investor and advisor group, including Google’s Larry Page & Eric Schmidt, Ph.D.; film maker & explorer James Cameron; Chairman of Intentional Software Corporation and Microsoft’s former Chief Software Architect Charles Simonyi, Ph.D.; Founder of Sherpalo and Google Board of Directors founding member K. Ram Shriram; and Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group Ross Perot, Jr., 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’.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the inclusion of James Cameron.

Looks very exciting ..

Indeed: people with lots of money there! (which would be needed for a venture like this)

[ChefPat]

Indeed: people with lots of money there! (which would be needed for a venture like this)

The NET Worth in the room will be around $40 billion. Lots of money indeed.