Author Topic: Planetary Resources (Read 380592 times)

AdrianW · « **Reply #640 on:** 05/28/2014 04:57 am »

Quote from: Solman on 05/28/2014 01:30 am

Believe I saw a reference to a talk by Lewicki in which he suggests that concentrated sunlight might have a role to play in asteroid mining but have been unable to find it again. [...]

If I remember correctly, they are planning to use huge mirrors (I think they said something about 1 km² of area) to melt/vaporize most of the asteroid; the platinum group metals, which have a very high boiling point, would remain behind.

Quote from: Solman on 05/28/2014 01:30 am

This sounds good untill you realize that the jets created by focussing sunlight on meteorite material in a vacuum has been measured by Matloff at 1 km/sec. Harvesting this would seem to require the collecting spacecraft to use thrust to cancel this velocity so I must have misubderstood.

That's an interesting point. Unfortunately, PR are very quiet about their plans for the far future.

AdrianW · « **Reply #641 on:** 05/28/2014 09:01 am »

Found it:

Also interesting to watch in its entirety.

Prober · « **Reply #642 on:** 06/24/2014 10:03 pm »

News release just out: http://www.planetaryresources.com/2014/06/asteroid-zoo-live/?utm_source=Interested+in+Planetary+Resources&utm_campaign=f3e8c680e2-FullArkyd-20130530&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d96084e5a-f3e8c680e2-14152733.

AdrianW · « **Reply #643 on:** 07/07/2014 06:50 am »

Update from Peter Diamandis (cofounder of Planetary Resources):

Highlights:
- Arkyd-3 to be shipped to the Cape within months
- the donut-shaped spacecraft is actually the Arkyd-300!
- 3D-printed fuel tank for 5 km/s delta-v
- cameras and momentum wheels: built in-house => reduced price by two orders of magnitude

TrevorMonty · « **Reply #644 on:** 07/07/2014 09:18 am »

Besides prospecting the Arkyd-300 can also be used for other things.

Communications hub/repeater: The Arkyd has laser communications and uses its telescope as receiver. Two or more grouped together can be used as a repeater. One communicates with earth while the others communicate with remote locations, communications within the group is via highspeed wireless.

The current earth radio receiving stations a already very busy and expensive to maintain. If future probes start using laser communications, orbiting Arkyd 300s can be used as dedicated receiving stations and relay any communications via one of many commercial communications satellites.

With built in high speed communications, navigation and DV of 5km/s these make for cheap (I read a price of few million somewhere) planetary survey spacecraft, just need to add the extra survey sensors. Planetary Resources made a comment about these being the iphone of spacecraft.

AdrianW · « **Reply #645 on:** 07/07/2014 09:54 am »

Good point, TrevorMonty, a low-cost high-capability high-volume spacecraft opens a lot of new possibilities. I'm especially excited about the laser communications, I'm curios what net bandwidth they'll be able to reach?

I also wonder what happened to the Arkyd-200? If they're already working on the 300, then the 200 should be obsolete. They will probably still launch the 100, since a fleet of small telescopes in LEO should be quite useful, and be cheaper to build and launch without that large fuel torus.

Has anyone heard any news from Deep Space Industries? Are they still doing serious work (provided they ever did)?

TrevorMonty · « **Reply #646 on:** 07/07/2014 07:38 pm »

There is also one other possible market for these spacecraft and that is prospecting companies. These companies can stake a claim on an asteroid then sell mining rights to PR.

The money for PR is in selling resources extracted from asteroids, they don't make any money looking for asteroids.

simonbp · « **Reply #647 on:** 07/08/2014 05:39 am »

Apparently Arecibo last month imaged a target for Planetary Resources. (It was NHAT target, so already on Arecibo's target list, but bumped up in priority after PR's request.) The image I saw wasn't great, but it was enough to show that the target was a near-equal mass binary. Binary NEOs are not uncommon (about a third of NEOs have 1 or more satellites), but the near-equal-mass type of binary is <3% of NEOs. IIRC, the two components were each ~80 m long.

I wonder if PR has some special interest in near-equal mass binaries...

Burninate · « **Reply #648 on:** 07/08/2014 06:33 am »

Quote from: simonbp on 07/08/2014 05:39 am

Apparently Arecibo last month imaged a target for Planetary Resources. (It was NHAT target, so already on Arecibo's target list, but bumped up in priority after PR's request.) The image I saw wasn't great, but it was enough to show that the target was a near-equal mass binary. Binary NEOs are not uncommon (about a third of NEOs have 1 or more satellites), but the near-equal-mass type of binary is <3% of NEOs. IIRC, the two components were each ~80 m long.

I wonder if PR has some special interest in near-equal mass binaries...

I'm imagining them capturing both in nets, tying the nets together, 'Reeling them in' to spin up the nets, and then firing off one of them into somewhere on their orbital plane with considerable tangential velocity by cutting the tether.

Then we just hear George Clooney saying his goodbyes as he sails off into the emptiness of space attached to the 'sacrifice' asteroid.

go4mars · « **Reply #649 on:** 07/08/2014 12:54 pm »

"Arkyd Industries manufactured the Imperial Probe Droids in the Star Wars Universe".
The was a really good selfie video.

TrevorMonty · « **Reply #650 on:** 07/28/2014 05:56 am »

Looks like using the PR vehicles as communication relays has a market.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1407/27marstelecom/#.U9XbNqqrG2c

One possible way this could work is for NASA to pay fixed amount over 15years for so much data a month delivered to internet. Some payments maybe in fixed sums for meeting milestones eg 50% for operational satellite in mars orbit and other 50% over 15yrs. A second redundant satellite may also be needed, this could be leased out to other customers and may carry additional sensors to fulfill this role. The spare‘s high definition telescope could take great photos of mars or its moons.

Any spare communication capacity could be on sold to other customers.

Tass · « **Reply #651 on:** 09/21/2014 06:23 am »

Can anyone confirm that this mornings Dragon launch carried the Arkyd 3?

Skyrocket · « **Reply #652 on:** 09/21/2014 09:06 am »

Quote from: Tass on 09/21/2014 06:23 am

Can anyone confirm that this mornings Dragon launch carried the Arkyd 3?

It was not on board. It will be launched on the Cygnus Orb-3 mission.

Tass · « **Reply #653 on:** 09/21/2014 11:25 am »

Quote from: Skyrocket on 09/21/2014 09:06 am

Quote from: Tass on 09/21/2014 06:23 am
Can anyone confirm that this mornings Dragon launch carried the Arkyd 3?

It was not on board. It will be launched on the Cygnus Orb-3 mission.

Thanks. Do you have a source?

Vultur · « **Reply #654 on:** 09/22/2014 07:35 am »

I wonder what caused the change?

jongoff · « **Reply #655 on:** 09/22/2014 11:37 pm »

Quote from: Tass on 09/21/2014 11:25 am

Quote from: Skyrocket on 09/21/2014 09:06 am
Quote from: Tass on 09/21/2014 06:23 am
Can anyone confirm that this mornings Dragon launch carried the Arkyd 3?

It was not on board. It will be launched on the Cygnus Orb-3 mission.

Thanks. Do you have a source?

Also, will NanoRacks be launching that, or will it be launched off of Cygnus or Antares externally (prior to reaching the station)?

~Jon

QuantumG · « **Reply #656 on:** 09/22/2014 11:41 pm »

My understanding was that NanoRacks was launching it.. but I guess with the recent troubles they've had with the launcher, that might have changed?

plutogno · « **Reply #657 on:** 10/18/2014 10:17 am »

Arkyd prototype to fly late this month on the next Antares flight
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2014/10/16/first-step-toward-asteroid-mining-planetary.html?ana=twt

Borklund · « **Reply #658 on:** 10/28/2014 11:44 pm »

How is Orb-3 going kaboom (and Arkyd-3 along with it) going to impact Planetary Resources?

sanman · « **Reply #659 on:** 10/29/2014 12:44 am »

I dunno, but I hope the $40 I paid them to have my picture sent to orbit didn't just go up in smoke!