Planetary Resources has successfully launched its demonstration spacecraft Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R) from the International Space Station. The asteroid mining company plans to incorporate the technologies into future spacecraft that will venture into the Solar System and prospect for resource-rich near-Earth asteroids. http://www.mining-technology.com/ne...echnologies-mining-minerals-asteroids-4626534
Well with plunging metal prices it seems yet more difficult to turn a profit here on earth let alone in space. But I guess we will see how this develops in future, perhaps space mining is viable when an ounce of gold cost $10000 or so. Launching a space demonstration seems the same to me as unveiling a new concept car. Everyone get all horned up about what great things can be done and yet they somehow never materialize. I wonder why that is.
Mining explorations out in space has got to be CRAZY expensive..... But when you are dealing with the possibility of an asteroid worth over $5 trillion.... Could be feasible.
If the mass of metal available is sufficient, it is possible that the declining price-increasing availability relationship might drive some technologies currently not feasible. It is possible (yes, dreaming) that the cost of space mining might be offset by increased usefulness. Not only that, return to Earth may not be necessary as, if space mining becomes feasible, so maybe will space/moon processing, which opens the door to low gravity materials manufacture. Only time will tell.
If reaction engines gets the sabre working in the next 10 years in a successful genuine full SSTO demonstration vehicle and we haven't experienced economic / currency collapse then I'll divest myself of metals. That's the only thing on the horizon that would make this mining even slightly feasible. If that happens I'll be putting all my money into shares of the company (assuming they have an IPO), so where gold is won't be a big concern for me.
"If reaction engines gets the sabre working in the next 10 years in a successful genuine full SSTO demonstration vehicle" That went over my head. lol. Wanna break that down for the dummies like myself?
Reaction engines is a British outfit who are working on a project for a be kind of combined cycle engine that's efficient from stand still at sea level as a normal jet engine, at hypersonic speeds as a ram jet and as a rocket outside of the atmosphere. It can also collect all the oxygen it needs from the atmosphere and liquify it in a tiny fraction of a second so it doesn't have to carry the heavy liquid oxygen it needs to work from takeoff. That means means you can have a light weight spacecraft that takes off like a normal plane and goes into space without the need for expendable staged rockets, cuts the cost of launch by a factor of 50 or more, makes it much flexible and easier to plan and task and should be safer. If you can get the Saber engine working out means you can move asteroids relatively cheaply since the cost of bringing all the gear up (mostly fuel for bringing the asteroids back) is much reduced. It also allows missions to mars and moon bases to become much more practical cost wise but also allows them to be much safer and functional since you don't have to build them as light/flimsy and can add extra gear without the sort of weight watchers attitude that makes the current designs look like blow up tents than a safe place to live in the freezing vacuum of space. Very exciting stuff and if they ever offer an IPO I'll be way into it, only more exciting thing are the two big small scale fusion efforts, lockheed's team and tri-alpha. Here's a doco about reaction engines (great watch): [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ_a21fPkYM[/youtube]
In this two-minute time-lapse video, see how a powerhouse of a rocket engine, the RS-25, is assembled by team members from Aerojet Rocketdyne at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Four RS-25 engines will power NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System, on missions to deep space, including to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars. Assembling an RS-25 Engine -- In Just Two Minutes - Time Lapse [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtE_61ZR67Y[/youtube]
Water A new way to harvest asteroid resources is being eyed as a possible game changer for space exploration. The patent-pending innovation, called "optical mining," could allow huge amounts of asteroid water to be tapped, advocates say. This water, in turn, could provide relatively cheap and accessible propellant for voyaging spacecraft, lowering the cost of spaceflight significantly. http://www.space.com/30582-asteroid-mining-water-propulsion.html
Off topic but.......... On a dry lakebed in Nevada, a group of friends build the first scale model of the solar system with complete planetary orbits: a true illustration of our place in the universe. https://vimeo.com/139407849 If you don't have time to view the entire vid, perhaps start at 3:42 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR3Igc3Rhfg[/youtube]
Interstellar vodka! ABC News: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-24/sugar-alcohol-on-comet-lovejoy/6881794
Off topic, but wanted to share this very clear launch video. The space cargo ship "Progress M-28M" launched from Baikonur, carrier rocket "Soyuz-U". If you don't have time to watch all, perhaps start at the 34 second mark. and or 3 minutes 15 seconds. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnMHijraBQw[/youtube]
NASA's will study a unique metal asteroid. The Psyche mission will explore one of the most intriguing targets in the main asteroid belt - a giant metal asteroid, known as 16 Psyche. This asteroid measures about 130 miles (210 kilometers) in diameter Comprised mostly of metallic iron and nickel, similar to Earth's core. Psyche, also a robotic mission, is targeted to launch in October of 2023, arriving at the asteroid in 2030, https://sese.asu.edu/research/psyche https://discovery.nasa.gov/missions.cfml
Absolutely not going to happen in the near future. By that, I mean 20 years. It's something that can only happen when it's routine to fly nuclear-powered spacecraft, and we have nuclear powered autonomous fuel generating stations (maybe on Mars) and we have robots that could do the entire job autonomously. Yes that is going to happen. But it is not going to happen within the next 20 years.
We already have 70 known nuclear powered satellites that are registered in space, but I think it will be 50 years, just within my lifetime. Potentially a lot more since many classified military and spy satellites don't release information.
