Planetary Resources

[jongoff]

Now we can finally end any speculation whether Planetary Resources might bring an asteroid closer to Earth orbit for resource extraction: Safe and efficient asteroid mining.

If industrial water mining on asteroids ends up being a simple as they suggest, then they shouldn't have any problems doing it with robots at the end of a 15 light minute + speed of light delay, with revisit opportunities only ever several years. If that's really the case, why wouldn't you process the materials on-site and only ship refined products?

~Jon

[sdsds]

Wow, Lewicki getting all sentimental. "You’ll be more connected with the universe, and realize how truly blessed we are to have these wonderful resources in our Solar System." I'd laugh, except he's extolling the virtues of a great hobby: study of "the fascinating field of celestial mechanics!"

I do like this bit about how the "Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM) has perhaps confused the issue, [because NASA is] looking to demonstrate advanced high power propulsion systems, and provide astronauts an interesting destination."

[AdrianW]

If industrial water mining on asteroids ends up being a simple as they suggest, then they shouldn't have any problems doing it with robots at the end of a 15 light minute + speed of light delay, with revisit opportunities only ever several years. If that's really the case, why wouldn't you process the materials on-site and only ship refined products?

You would process the raw materials on-site, that was my point. But for whatever reason, the transport-a-huge-asteroid-to-Earth-orbit-for-processing idea keeps popping up in this thread.

[simonbp]

If industrial water mining on asteroids ends up being a simple as they suggest, then they shouldn't have any problems doing it with robots at the end of a 15 light minute + speed of light delay, with revisit opportunities only ever several years. If that's really the case, why wouldn't you process the materials on-site and only ship refined products?

You would process the raw materials on-site, that was my point. But for whatever reason, the transport-a-huge-asteroid-to-Earth-orbit-for-processing idea keeps popping up in this thread.

Because some people use it as a justification for the ARM project.

And those of use who work on space robots with a 18-hour light round trip time somehow manage to make it work. Real deep space operations just takes lots of planning (and margin).

[AdrianW]

Blog entry

[jongoff]

If industrial water mining on asteroids ends up being a simple as they suggest, then they shouldn't have any problems doing it with robots at the end of a 15 light minute + speed of light delay, with revisit opportunities only ever several years. If that's really the case, why wouldn't you process the materials on-site and only ship refined products?

You would process the raw materials on-site, that was my point. But for whatever reason, the transport-a-huge-asteroid-to-Earth-orbit-for-processing idea keeps popping up in this thread.

I think the point of bringing an asteroid to Earth is mostly as a testbed to learn how to mine before you have to do it far from home troubleshooting is hard if not impossible. Once you've proven that out where iteration is easy, then you mine and process at the site and only ship refined materials. Assuming that you're going to get a mining process right the first time seems like tempting fate.

~Jon

[jongoff]

And those of use who work on space robots with a 18-hour light round trip time somehow manage to make it work. Real deep space operations just takes lots of planning (and margin).

And doing tasks a heck of a lot simpler than mining and large-scale resource processing. There's a reason why most mining engineers who have worked in aerospace think aerospace engineers need more adult supervision.

~Jon

[JamesG123]

I think the point of bringing an asteroid to Earth is mostly as a testbed to learn how to mine before you have to do it far from home troubleshooting is hard if not impossible. Once you've proven that out where iteration is easy, then you mine and process at the site and only ship refined materials. Assuming that you're going to get a mining process right the first time seems like tempting fate.

The task of manipulating the orbit of an entire asteroid is a wholly separate one from resource extraction and so on.  ARM is a compromise scheme to enable "hands on rocks" within NASA's current hardware and budgetary limitations.   It is not a viable means to reduce asteroids to constituent elements and return/utilize those of value.  Two separate missions.

[TrevorMonty]

The asteroid should be available for PR or DSI to experiment with.

[notsorandom]

PR is making some sense in regards to the ARM asteroid. The delta V needed to visit an NEO is not that much more than needed to get to a distant retrograde lunar orbit.

[Borklund]

 

[go4mars]

http://www.planetaryresources.com/technology/#high-delta-v-small-propulsion-systems

This page is talking about optical communication across the solar system, and implies (if I'm reading correctly) that their Arkyd's will be doing it (soon?). 

[go4mars]

I thought this clickable diagram was cute. 

They've added a significantly to their website since the last time I poked around in there.  Mostly interesting stuff too.  I recommend a look around if any of you are bored.   

[AdrianW]

Arkyd-3 successfully deployed!


About the Arkyd-6, to be launched later this year:

Planetary Resources is leveraging the increased payload capacity of the A6 to begin demonstration of core technology to measure resources on water-rich asteroids. Included in the payload is a mid-wave infrared imaging system, able to precisely measure temperature differences of the objects it observes, as well as acquire key data related to the presence of water and water-bearing minerals.  The system will first test targeted areas of our own planet before being deployed to near-Earth asteroids on future missions.

[TrevorMonty]

PR hope to be mining asteroids for water by 2025. Whether there is a market for it by 2025 is another story.

http://m.space.com/30213-asteroid-mining-planetary-resources-2025.html#st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/XeFKx2sKs8

[AdrianW]

New blog post!

How We Choose our Near-Earth Asteroid Targets

[TrevorMonty]

A pdf from Planetary Resources on their future activities. Last page has timeline of space craft development.
They have some serious investors/partners eg Bechtel Corporation  the largest construction and engineering company in US.  I'm guessing a token investment by Bechtel, but enough to make sure they don't miss out if Asteroid mining takes off.

https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-final-obstacles-for-sustainable-asteroid-mining?c=res_nrfy15twt_10000003&n=smc_0715

[Danderman]

According to an SECOND filing, PR has raised $12 million of a planned $20 million in investment funding.

[RAN]

PR hope to be mining asteroids for water by 2025. Whether there is a market for it by 2025 is another story.

http://m.space.com/30213-asteroid-mining-planetary-resources-2025.html#st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/XeFKx2sKs8

This article also states that the Arkyd 6 "is scheduled to launch to orbit in December aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket."  The article was published August 2015.

Is Arkyd 6 scheduled to launch on CRS 8 (like Arkyd 3 on CRS 6) or as a secondary payload on a commercial launch?

[Saltvann]

Is Arkyd 6 scheduled to launch on CRS 8 (like Arkyd 3 on CRS 6) or as a secondary payload on a commercial launch?

It's scheduled to launch as a secondary payload with FORMOSAT sometime in 2016.