Yeah, actually they try to keep whatever they send into space pretty lowtech, because the more advanced it is, the more heat it generate and you can't get rid of heat in vacume. I think that might be one of the most problematic issues they might have with mining in space.
Also it seem that they might be working out something with artificial gravity that works like normal gravity, without doing the whole rotation thing, which has it's drawbacks.
What if the asteroid-grabbing-things were eventually constructed in space cancelling out the huge fuel issue? They themselves don't nessessarily need to return to earth surely, if they are just returning the asteroids into low orbit? I'm sure if they can drag the asteroids near enough to earth somebody will come up with a cost effective way to mine them. I'd imagine some kind of "smash them to bits in space and throw them at the ocean" approach would be taken.
you are correct. that is precisely the point. it is not even remotely commercially viable to mine anything in space. its about as commercially viable as sending satellites into orbit to make ice cream. it would require a totally new and radical as yet undiscovered propulsion system. that has been the goal of the greatest minds in astrophysics and engineering for the past 60 years.
Nope. Aside form the fact that the returns on the materials would cover running costs (I'm not going to think about R&D) - worrying about where to get fuel is almost a non issue, as they will be able to mine the materials needed for fuel off the asteroids. In MASSIVE quantities.
Seriously, go watch the press conference, it's really interesting.
Small enough chunks - big enough floatation devices? Just bring 'em back to land to mine them properly, send the (possibly) re-usable floatation devices back up with the next maintainance/otherexcusetogotospace trip. Obviously i'm just pulling these ideas out of my ass, but there's plenty of cheap solutions i'm sure some clever people will be able to make a reality.
A large, efficient space elevator, which is currently being researched, could make the process possible, perhaps even profitable. Maybe a large orbiting processing plant that transfers resources back to the earths surface via space elevator would be the solution.
Taking the pie-in-the-sky concepts aside, don't you guys find it *super* amazing that we might see the beginning of real, honest space expansion within our lifetimes?
Well at least national politics cannot exist by law in space. I believe it was in the 60's a treaty was signed by the majority of countries that no one can set up borders of their own country on another planet. This is why America was never able to claim parts of the moon where they landed.
Indeed when it comes to space there are no nations, only Earth v Universe. The thing with the private sector though is that is isn't state owned, only regulated.
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Also it seem that they might be working out something with artificial gravity that works like normal gravity, without doing the whole rotation thing, which has it's drawbacks.
Nope. Aside form the fact that the returns on the materials would cover running costs (I'm not going to think about R&D) - worrying about where to get fuel is almost a non issue, as they will be able to mine the materials needed for fuel off the asteroids. In MASSIVE quantities.
Seriously, go watch the press conference, it's really interesting.
Easy down on the wild speculation, scientifically there's no easy solution to these problems except the ones that will have to be invented.
Indeed when it comes to space there are no nations, only Earth v Universe. The thing with the private sector though is that is isn't state owned, only regulated.