Thread: Mining astroid methiod

We plan to mine asteroids some day because asteroids have very very little gravity and also a well rock like terrain, scientist thought in order to get ore you must be on surface, and they came up with this complex mess of wires and facility's to envelope a asteroid but I have a idea and a far more efficient and simple one.

I can have a laser 4 lasers placed at the end of a rotor type of thing, and it will spin creating a laser with a empty center to Pearce through the asteroid now that the rock is separated a tractor beam can be on this machine and pull the rock inside the ship, through a opening inside the center of spinning lasers. from there the rock will enter the center of a rotating cylinder providing artificial gravity on the cylinder walls and suspending the rock on the center of this cylinder ect ect you get the idea..
Okay I know that a tractor beam is purely theoretical but surly IS possible. what ever your method winch, magnetism. you get the basic idea.

I got this idea while playing a mmo called eve online, I was mining and caught my self studying the turret

Apparently your sigline is quite accurate.

Are we out of Ni & Fe already?

Originally Posted by fizzlooney

Are we out of Ni & Fe already?

We are on a knife edge, a truly fine line.

Nobody is feeling excited about puns, Ophiolite...

If you observe Meteor Wayne's reaction you will see you are wrong.
If you were aware of my own reaction you would know you are wrong.
The great benefit of science is that it enables you to change your understanding based upon observation.
Do you now understand, based on these observations, that you were wrong?


Welcome to the forum.

In 2137 - we need lots more Iron and Nickel, and heaps of other Metals

We are Building ( space ) Warships - from 500 metres long to 50 Km long.

We are Building Mobile Battlestations - up to 600 Km diameter ( like biggest "Death Star").

Your Idea sounds very good -

But we are thinking of building the Smelting Plants ON the Asteroids -
then just keep goind until it is all used up.
Then move the Smelting Plant to the next Asteroid.

If we are left with a lot of Rock - put a Defensive Base on it.

We have Tractor and Pressor Beams - they are actually Gravity Control Systems -
courtesy of our ( fairly ) recent Alien Allies, the Rhywyrr.

Originally Posted by Japith

We plan to mine asteroids some day because asteroids have very very little gravity and also a well rock like terrain, scientist thought in order to get ore you must be on surface, and they came up with this complex mess of wires and facility's to envelope a asteroid but I have a idea and a far more efficient and simple one.

I can have a laser 4 lasers placed at the end of a rotor type of thing, and it will spin creating a laser with a empty center to Pearce through the asteroid now that the rock is separated a tractor beam can be on this machine and pull the rock inside the ship, through a opening inside the center of spinning lasers. from there the rock will enter the center of a rotating cylinder providing artificial gravity on the cylinder walls and suspending the rock on the center of this cylinder ect ect you get the idea..
Okay I know that a tractor beam is purely theoretical but surly IS possible. what ever your method winch, magnetism. you get the basic idea.

I got this idea while playing a mmo called eve online, I was mining and caught my self studying the turret

Careful mate, when you swing that pickaxe at your asterroid, all that's gonna happen is you'll go flying off in the other direction. see Newton et al.

Originally Posted by fizzlooney

Are we out of Ni & Fe already?

Actually, asteroids have more to offer than iron and nickel. There is much worth extracting, platinum group metals, etc., in fact, the entire gamut of elements, in varying concentrations.

Fred Hoyle wrote about the impact of a meteor composed of almost pure gold in his short story, "Element 79". But even the humbler metals are of great worth merely by virtue of being already IN space for construction of habitations and industries there.

Asteroids in fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This could develop into good thread with some effort, in spite of its beginnings.

Nice reference for those interested in subject:

Amazon.com: Mining The Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets (Helix Book) (9780201328196): John S. Lewis: Books

Recently found online: Where does all Earth's gold come from? Precious metals the result of meteorite bombardment, rock analysis finds

And if indeed this is true, would it not be logical to go TO these bodies rather than passively wait for them to arrive in our vicinity, sometimes in a most destructive fashion?

Geologists Point To Outer Space As Source Of The Earth's Mineral Riches

I guess asteroids are extremely hard and probably would require some very special
drilling tecnique.Possibly it would be less energy extensive to bring entire asteroid to the
Earth than to drill it.
Also,what about international agreements for asteroid property rights?

Originally Posted by Stanley514

I guess asteroids are extremely hard and probably would require some very special
drilling tecnique.Possibly it would be less energy extensive to bring entire asteroid to the
Earth than to drill it.
Also,what about international agreements for asteroid property rights?

Who knows maybe someone might even intentional crash a asteroid to earth then retrieve the ore spread across the ground

Originally Posted by Stanley514

I guess asteroids are extremely hard and probably would require some very special
drilling tecnique.Possibly it would be less energy extensive to bring entire asteroid to the
Earth than to drill it.
Also,what about international agreements for asteroid property rights?

Properties of asteroids vary with composition. Prince assumes that techniques for extracting elements from these bodies will be different than but not necessarily more difficult than terrestrial mining. Asteroids are up for grabs- current space law forbids any NATION from making claims but does not mention private interests, though Prince is no authority on this aspect of subject.

The Wealth of Asteroids | Abundant Planet

Originally Posted by The Finger Prince

Originally Posted by Stanley514

I guess asteroids are extremely hard and probably would require some very special
drilling tecnique.Possibly it would be less energy extensive to bring entire asteroid to the
Earth than to drill it.
Also,what about international agreements for asteroid property rights?

Properties of asteroids vary with composition. Prince assumes that techniques for extracting elements from these bodies will be different than but not necessarily more difficult than terrestrial mining. Asteroids are up for grabs- current space law forbids any NATION from making claims but does not mention private interests, though Prince is no authority on this aspect of subject.

The Wealth of Asteroids | Abundant Planet

Works great if you ignore the expense, which is considerable (making it economically non viable) and the lack of capability (either in launch vehicles or mining robots). But go ahead, go with your fantasy...but come back when you have a real plan, financial backing, and a realistic timeline.

I'll be worm food before then.

Objections of this sort become self-fulfilling prophecies in short order. Prince would like to point out that one decade was in fact "realistic timeline" for Moon landing, and that several near Earth asteroids are actually easier to reach than Moon. In fact NASA has completed several missions of unmanned spacecraft to same. As to financial backing, inexorable laws of supply and demand will make this option ever more attractive as terrestrial ores are depleted, though this may take more time than is generally believed. As to plan, cheap access to space is an absolute precondition, so construction of space elevator is obvious first stage.

Both space elevator and colonization of extraterrestrial bodies were advocated by visionary Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, now, sadly, "worm food", but the vision lingers on, as promise is very nearly astronomical. Left to their own devices, such vast repositories of wealth become an absolute menace, providing further incentive to turn them to advantage.

Visualize, perhaps, a consortium of nations pooling resources to develop technology of bringing such bodies into stable terrestrial or lunar orbit, then offering mineral rights to highest bidder, with part of proceeds going into global development fund to aid poorer nations nonparticipant.

Say we have in space large parabolic mirror and transparent envelope large enough to contain body. Sunlight focused on object cooks out volatile elements which condense on area of envelope shaded by body- at least this part is potentially simple and inexpensive.