Deep space mining is coming soon

[Thor.]

Hello I'm bored so i decide to start somethinghttp://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/ermm.gif news worthy.

 

Topic of the day: "space mining", what do you think will happen in the next 5 or so years..

 

http://www.extremete...-mining-by-2020

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm7YrLIpEto

 

Now doesn't that space craft look oddly like something that would produce artificial gravity, its about time to http://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/biggrin.gif

Edited January 23, 2013 by Thor.

[Werne]

what do you think will happen in the next 5 or so years..

My contract will expire, I'll get married, US will hopefully pull out of Afghanistan so I don't have to go there anymore, 5 drunken new years, 5 Christmas', we'll all get older and my dentist will fix this damn tooth that's been annoying me. That's what I'm sure will happen.

 

As for asteroid mining, I've been taught all my life that nothing happens on schedule so I doubt this will exist in the next 5-10 years, maybe 15-20.

Besides, we should focus on cleaning up the crap we made on Earth, not looking all over the universe for crap to bring back and throw on an already existing pile we need to get rid of. http://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/rolleyes.gif

 

It's all just theory and empty promises for now, I'll believe in it once I see the company actually doing something.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Werne

[Thor.]

I bet it will be on schedule, if there is a profit to be had, then greed tends be a issue. Unlike the other exploration deals going on like Nasa, DSI will make money instead of lose it do to expensive investments like Nasahttp://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/facepalm.gif exploitation instead of exploration may cost billions, but instead they get trillions in profit in return.

 

More news, looks like i might be correct.

 

http://www.space.com...gal-issues.html

 

Lol i always like science fiction becoming a reality

 

Although space mining does have its risks.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Thor.

[Vagrant0]

There are only two components of scarcity remaining in the world...

 

Energy to move things, purify water, make things.

 

Raw minerals for producing goods.

 

 

Materials can be gotten from other places, especially on the ocean where the same exact minerals they're looking for can be gathered in reasonably high quantities. Energy however is the one majorly huge problem. Right now we aren't making it, we aren't using it efficiently, we aren't using it responsibly, and we have too many parties who would use it as a means of destruction or to push their own small agendas. Until that problem is solved, there won't be much real benefit in the world.

 

Those who actually run things don't want utopia since a utopia would be a society that they cannot manipulate and control.

[Thor.]

Apparently they are going be using 3d printers to make anything in space, with the exploitation of asteroids they can make anything in space. Also bring resources down to earth if anything 80% of what they mine will be used for exploration and building space stations and components so they wouldn't have to rely on resources from earth.

 

This nearly 2 hour conference explains allot on what i am talking about.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht1_VIw6C98

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIY_fmvFDhM

 

 

if it wasn't for 3d printers, most of this stuff would be impossible, next replication.

 

Also there is two companies in the race for resource mining, DSI and planetary resources are in competition with one another, so that is also a good thing for progress and the speed it might take to get the job done.

Also profit is the motivator here.

 

 

also this news has gone viral, looks like it has allot of backing ???

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...s-asteroid.html

Edited January 25, 2013 by Thor.

[Vagrant0]

25-kilogram FireFly

Larger "DragonFly" spacecraft in 2016 to take samples of up to 45 kilograms from the asteroids.

 

Not exactly doing very much for all the logistics involved with sending any space craft to an extraterrestrial body considering that most of those precious metals are quite heavy. Most of that would probably have to be platinum in order to pay for fuel costs.

 

Although it might be a step, they kinda have a long way to go before they are manufacturing anything off-planet.

[Thor.]

They are going to be sending fleets of that type of space craft, more then 3 and later on permanent asteroid bases like shown in the video. i heard they are going to be constantly sending out dragonfly ships for materials, but later on will be permanent mining ships later on. slowly grinding away at the asteroids. the permanent mining colony-mining ships.

 

here is another vid i came aross

 

http://tv.ibtimes.co...harvesting-8620

Edited January 26, 2013 by Thor.

[Vagrant0]

They are going to be sending fleets of that type of space craft, more then 3 and later on permanent asteroid bases like shown in the video. i heard they are going to be contently sending out dragonfly ships for materials, but later on will be permanent mining ships later on. slowly grinding away at the asteroids. the permanent mining colony-mining ships.

 

here is another vid i came aross

 

http://tv.ibtimes.com/firefly-satellite-survey-asteroids-harvesting-8620

The problem is that there really isn't any good way currently to send any objects into actual space (not just an orbit) that doesn't involve a rather considerable amount of fuel. Even if you're packing three small craft to a rocket, you're still only getting a fairly small amount of resources compared to the amount of energy needed to launch, then retrieve them. And that's assuming that you have a 100% success rate (meaning none of the craft become damaged during launch, collection, and return, none of the rockets explode, and the retrieval doesn't end up on the bottom of the ocean.

 

There's no problem with the premise, or even the plan since having a fleet of a few hundred machines floating around collecting resources would actually start to have a significant effect on scarcity of those resources... It's just that the base component for making it actually work and be cost effective doesn't seem to currently exist. We have no space elevator, we have no working propulsion other than liquid fuel, we have no mass driver. So all you're doing is burning more oil, which is already a scarce resource.

[Thor.]

Its the size of the space craft, they say its going to be as big as a laptop, then added capacity later. curious how they are going to grab that much, but the video explains it sort of.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Technology%20and%20Science/ID/2328122021/

Edited January 25, 2013 by Thor.

[Vagrant0]

Its the size of the space craft, they say its going to be as big as a laptop, then added capacity later. curious how they are going to grab that much, but the video explains it sort of.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Technology%20and%20Science/ID/2328122021/

not really, the video just shows a craft expanding a sort of net around material and hauling it away. As these are supposedly smaller, and solid asteroids, you aren't going to be able to just fly up to one, take a bite, and zoom off. You'll need some sort of drilling or cutting device to dig through the frozen rock (not easy to do, even on Earth), and hope that it breaks at the right shape and size to fit inside the net so that it can be taken back without causing damage to the craft. And even then you aren't getting pure concentrations of metals. Which is why a payload of even 45 kilos isn't really all that much material. It just feels like they're putting the cart before the horse.