Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Do you have a t-shirt that says "Gravity wells suck"?
Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Do you have a t-shirt that says "Gravity wells suck"?
Nope, but it would be neat.
Psyche likely contains five billion years or so of the Earth's current annual steel production. I like to think of O'Neill cylinders being built like the bridge at Coalbrookdale or a 19th century Manhattan storefront.
Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Oneil Cylinders also need lots of other elements along with water, all of which are near by in DV terms in asteriod belt. Unlike Espanse, future Belters might have it lot better than their planet bound cousins.
Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Nickel-iron alloys are not that useful.
Gravity is very useful things. Planets large enough to have significant ones are much more resource rich than asteroids
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Nickel-iron alloys are not that useful.
Gravity is very useful things. Planets large enough to have significant ones are much more resource rich than asteroids
If it's anything like what we predicted versus actual
found at the Moon, asteroids, the Galilean moons, and Pluto, I'm willing to bet Psyche will be far more than a rock lump saying "mine me." I certainly would at least bet it'll be an interesting mix of rock and metal with, as I imply, numerous unexpected twists impossible to predict. I think the only constant rule in our Solar System seems to be "if it hasn't been looked at, it's bound to be weird."
Even assuming Psyche was a fiery shard from an old planet, that collision happened on the order of billions of years ago; all the inner planets, including our Moon and Mercury with their lightly frosted poles, lost huge amount of volatiles in that time and probably regained, if not retained, some during that time. Although I agree Psyche doubtfully has ice due to the extreme tilt, there are theories on how tide-locked worlds could have glaciers at the equator instead. And, of course, the iron might be rusted betraying a past presence of water. Or maybe like Io we find sulfur or some other element normally uncommon. Going back to my opening statement, billions of years gives even an asteroid plenty of time to create surprises.
Regarding Psyche as a mine, good idea but we could suffice with Mars or Luna...at least initially. I'd like to see what Psyche offers first before guesstimating its value. I call dibs if it turns out to be gold though...
Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Nickel-iron alloys are not that useful.
Gravity is very useful things. Planets large enough to have significant ones are much more resource rich than asteroids
Sure, but shipping millions on tons of whatever in space is in my opinion incredibly wasteful. And about Nickel-iron not being useful, well, iron is useful I think, because you can make steel with it (with other material of course). And what "resources" are you talking about?
How much carbon is on Psyche? If it is scarce then making steel might get a little tricky.
How much carbon is on Psyche? If it is scarce then making steel might get a little tricky.
Steel contains 1-2% carbon so you don't need lot. There are plenty of asteriods in asteriod belt that contain lots of carbon.
Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Nickel-iron alloys are not that useful.
Gravity is very useful things. Planets large enough to have significant ones are much more resource rich than asteroids
Sure, but shipping millions on tons of whatever in space is in my opinion incredibly wasteful. And about Nickel-iron not being useful, well, iron is useful I think, because you can make steel with it (with other material of course). And what "resources" are you talking about?
Moving millions of tonnes are a long way off.
Resources are anything we use. Volatiles are what are needed most up front in the most quantities. Regolith materials supply aggregate, basalt is particularly useful, and can be used for a range of fabricated materials. Basalt is associated with with moderately fractionated planetary crusts, not asteroids (Vesta excepted).
Steel is not particularly useful for space structures. You will want aluminium or titanium. These are lithophile elements, associated with evolved planetary crusts. Most of the elements we use are either lithophile or chalcophile, which are associated with hydrothermal process, again associated with planetary crusts.
Iron asteroids are composed mostly of siderophile elements, there are only a few of these.
There are also the major issues of mineral separation in microgravity. Gravity is very useful.
Gravity isn't always usefull. One of the big promises in space manufacturing is making alloys that can only be made in zero g. You can always use a centrifuge if you need gravity for anything.
Steel is not particularly useful for space structures. You will want aluminium or titanium.
Depends on the use case - as SpaceX intends to demonstrate with Starship - and the economics of production and transportation.
Steel is not particularly useful for space structures. You will want aluminium or titanium.
Depends on the use case - as SpaceX intends to demonstrate with Starship - and the economics of production and transportation.
Dalhousie can you elaborate on why you feel steel is not useful? Is it because that's not what's used today?
Image how many Oneil Cylinder colonies the metal Psyche could build. Should be enough to house few billion people.
This is why Psyche is my favorite asteroid, the posibilities seems pretty big. Even if the metal there requires facilities to purify it, it's miles better than shipping it from earth, the moon or mars, the gravity well is very small. It's one of the reason I'm not so keen of mars, I hate gravity wells.
Nickel-iron alloys are not that useful.
Gravity is very useful things. Planets large enough to have significant ones are much more resource rich than asteroids
Alloys containing Iron and Nickel are incredibly useful. What do you think Inconel is? Its primary components are Iron, Nickel, and Chromium.
Gravity also means that denser materials are going to sink down towards a planet's core. That's the primary interest of Psyche! It appears to be the remnants of the core of a protoplanet. So the heavy elements should be far more abundant and easily available there.
Steel is not particularly useful for space structures. You will want aluminium or titanium.
Depends on the use case - as SpaceX intends to demonstrate with Starship - and the economics of production and transportation.
Aluminum and Titanium are useful for being light and strong, both needed when you are launching things away from Earth.
At the lesser gravity well of Psyche, it would be more possible to build space stations like a tank, rather than with precision engineering.
