Another Private Company Announces Plans to Mine Asteroids
But ultimately, as denoted by their name (Deep Space Industries, plural), they hope to become the space equivalent of Pittsburgh or Detroit — a location for heavy manufacturing close to their source of raw materials, just as those industrial cities once relied on the Iron Range of Minnesota to feed the foundries and factories of the upper Midwest. But instead of raw steel and cars, one of their ultimate goals is to generate clean energy for use in both space and on earth. John Mankins, the chief technical officer of the new company, worked for NASA for many years as one of their chief technologists, and has done extensive work on concepts for collecting solar energy in space and beaming it back to the planet, via microwave or laser, to provide a continuous, baseload power source.
Is it technically and economically feasible?
“There is no magic here,” said Mankins at the press conference. “It’s all existing tech [for the Fireflies and Dragonflies] — it’s just never been demonstrated beyond earth orbit.” The probes will be based on Cubesat technology, which is a new concept for microsatellites that has allowed universities to build and launch their own payloads into earth orbit for costs on the order of only a million dollars or so. For deep space missions, no longer protected by the earth’s magnetic field, more radiation shielding will be required, but functionally, most of the capabilities needed have been demonstrated, at least for the flybys. Whether or not their more ambitious plans will pan out remains to be seen, considering the many hurdles that space solar power faces, in terms of the scale of the project and the environmental and public-relations hurdles. But as their web site indicates, they are dreamers, and bold ones.
Is there room for two such companies? At the press conference, I asked if they saw themselves as complementary to, or in pure competition with PR.
“We love Planetary Resources,” said Rick Tumlinson, chairman of the board. “One company may be a fluke, but two companies showing up, that’s the beginning of an industry.”
Gump followed up. “It’s a very big solar system. Two companies are not going to be able to go after all the opportunities out there.”
I noted at my blog that if we’re ever to build a Death Star, it will require capabilities like those planned by DSI, PR, and others. But they offer the promise of much more useful things, and they won’t be the last.
Last spring I wrote a science fiction novel that is centered around these precise ideas, including Mankins sundew arrays and mitigating the rotation of an asteroid which may be a rubble pile in order to thrust it to Earth orbit.
My conclusion is that Third World countries as well as polities like China and Russia will never allow asteroids brought near the Earth, the first simply because they can’t do it themselves and the second for military reasons.
Through the U.N., there will be endless complaints of the dangers involved should an asteroid get out of control and hit the Earth. Some will see it as a threat, a Sword of Damocles held over their heads of a Tunguska-like event doled out as punishment by whoever controls such a rock.
The only chance to capture an asteroid without squawking might be to install it in our forward trojan, but that is a very long haul. In the case of my novel, the rock is already situated in the forward Lagrange and brought to Earth earlier than planned as a fake dangerous “rogue” to create a distraction from other secret operations around Earth.
i have been watching the potential for asteroid retrieval develop for quite a while now. it looks like we have all (or most) of the science needed now. i watched a video of one of these company’s c.e.o.s stating that they planned to eventually bring asteroids into an orbit around the moon, not the earth, just in case. also, space elevators from the moon to somewhere near earth, in order to bring precious materials/minerals back for low orbit retrieval, are doable as well. the moon doesn’t have the rotational forces (elevator cable/ribbon strength) problems that we have not yet overcome in trying to design and build an earth-to-space elevator. in short, solar powered elevators bringing precious materials from a moon base to somewhere near the earth for retieval doesn’t require any technology we don’t already possess.
don’t think that other countries won’t quickly follow us into deep space retrieval of asteroids, once the $$$ starts flowing. asteroids found in the asteroid belt just beyond mars are thought to contain the same minerals as planets, since many were ejected from same by collisions past. i saw where scientists/astronomers recently discovered what appears to be a totally carbon (diamond) planet fairly close to our solar system. just sayin’.
interesting developments for sure from many different areas of science these days. there will be a learning curve here, let’s just hope it all pan$ out.
now let’s wait and see what excuse our current sociologist will do to shut it all down. can’t have a new source of wealth spring up while the strangling of America’s economy is just staring to do so well.
Mining asteroids might be practical for industry and commerce at Mars’ outposts, and space stations out there in deep space; but for industry and commerce here on Earth, it doesn’t seem practical. Bringing stuff to Earth from outer space will cause, over time, an increase in Earth’s mass and gravity.
Good Lord! How much material do you think will be brought back and over what period of time?
I don’t know, but it seems uneconomical to go to the Asteroid Belt for materials that could be mined on Earth, unless those materials are for use out there.
The only obstacle is the gravity well we live in. The cost of getting things from Earth to orbit and back is prohibitive.
Build a space elevator to make orbit cheap. Once that’s done, the solar system is ours.
Apparently you’ve never heard of something called, “tidal forces.” Building an elevator shaft from the surface to a space station in geosynchronous orbit would require the shaft to withstand the strong sheer stresses that the Earth’s rotation would cause it. Also, it would only marginally reduce your energy requirements for lifting the payload (rotational effects will slightly reduce the effective gravity that needs to be worked against, but not tremendously. As it is, rocket launches already occur in the same direction as Earth’s rotation in order to get the maximum energy boost from the Earth).
Yes yes yes, let’s mine asteroids. What a breath-taking, forward-looking brilliant idea. And where is the capital going to come from to rocket this idea into being? Don’t think for a second that alongside with their grandiose imaginings there won’t be a lobbyist looking to appropriate money from the US taxpayer — for the benefit of humankind’s future, don’tcha know — as the cash cow to fund it. I know I’m happy to further bankrupt our present AND future just to get the perfect resolution on a printed email I’ll later trash!
I would love to see one of the subcommittees in the House rake these charlatans over the coals in a hearing. Maybe get Project Veritas to do a few hidden camera stings demonstrating how these companies are all in it for the government pork.
I have to admit it, my inner Trekkie loves stories like this. Those of us who have wanted space exploration have been talking of mining the asteroids for decades now.
But in the real world I take all of this with a grain of salt the size of an asteroid.
The way I see it there are three possibilities.
1. This can’t be done and the people who are forming these companies are con men.
2. This can’t be done but the people trying are sincere. They will lose their shirts.
3. This can be done and soon there will be dozens or perhaps hundreds of companies. just like the early days of the automobile.
If it turns out to be doable and hundreds of companies are established, potential investors should be aware of the story of the automobile. Hundreds of car companies were established, but only a very small handful were successful. For every Ford Motor Company, there were hundreds of Wintons.
Just something to think about if you’re planning to invest.
Rand, I worked on one of the earlier CubeSat projects, the TERRIERS satellite project (I was a materials manager and also built the Ground Support Equipment). Despite an insertion error later on that essentially had it written off as a total loss (not the satellite’s fault), everything up to launch went remarkably well. It’s a viable idea.
Considering how much it costs per pound to put a satellite into orbit, and that it would cost even more to bring a payload back down to earth, I don’t see how asteroid mining could make any money with today’s rocket technology.
Even if asteroids were covered in gold, platinum, or whatever the most expensive raw materials are on earth I doubt if it would cost less to launch a space probe out to mine them and bring them back to earth than what they are worth.
That’s always the challenge with any project – how to make a profit. Unless the materials made/mined in space are extremely valuable, there’s no way to make a profit so capital will be hard to obtain. One possibility is to use the materials in space instead of bringing them to the Earth’s surface. Of course, the problem is a lack of a current market in space. Could materials be used to build a large space habitat like the L-5 Society proposed? Sure, but no one has the money to build one or any other colony. Some asteroids contain ice which could be used to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power a space tug. How would that cost compare to launching propellant from the Earth?
True visionaries can create a market that doesn’t currently exist but that doesn’t happen very often. Performing some experiments at asteroid mining to see if it can be done and at what cost is a good idea but it isn’t likely to be profitable for a long time, if ever.
I think there is a problem with the title.
“Another Private Company Announces Plan to Mine Gullible Rich People”
Fixed it.
Corporatism Is Not the Free Market The U.S. ceased to be a free market a long time ago. Sheldon Richman | February 3, 2012
http://reason.com/archives/2012/02/03/corporatism-is-not-the-free-market
Revolution 2012 against NWO Corporatism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywDI8VCb5Zs
As the country and its leaders continue to look backward — to Imperial Rome for example — it is reassuring that some Americans continue to look forward. And keep in mind that these ideas ARE NOT COMING FROM ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY OR WOODPANELED SENATE OR EXECUTIVE OFFICE BUILDING suite. The question is will we remain free enough long enough to accomplish such great things. Remember that both the US and China have the ability to shoot down anything going into space or that is already in orbit. Power devolving downward is not in their interests. As China bullies the Pacific Basin countries and every White House press conference or executive announcement reminds us of who is in charge, keep all this in mind. Work hard and work fast because unfortunately the last best hope no longer resides in America’s Constitutional principles or institutions.
I don’t see how asteroid mining could make any money
Others do. Isn’t that just how things work? As Larry points out, material is valuable in space itself. Water and sunlight provides deltaV which is quite valuable (perhaps the most valuable thing) in that quite large place known as space (see rocket equation.)
Value is not intrinsic. The value of asteroid mining grows when you look beyond mining to settlement. Somewhere around 80% to 90% of the cost of doing business in space is deltaV.
The market for asteroid mining isn’t on earth. It comes into existence the moment somebody puts a refuelable general purpose ship in earth orbit (that’s a one time cost per ship since it will never land on earth or any other big rock thereafter. Later it may just be manufacture in space and never have to pay that one time cost which is another reason for asteroid mining.)
Those ships will be general purpose, a main purpose being delivering colonists to landers in orbit around big rocks like mars. Done the right way, delivering colonists by itself provides the profit long sought for and mining asteroids just goes along for the ride.
I’m sure the EPA will move to regulate Space Pollution.
On the other hand, moving asteroids for mining could be called “developing an Earth Defense technology” to pre-empt the next dinosaur killer.
In that case, hang on to your wallets, folks. Anyone who has “done extensive work” on beaming energy to earth from space is more of a sci-fi “true believer” than a practical scientist.
There’s this little problem called the “inverse square law”. Because of this petty, ill-mannered little law of physics, when you beam kilowatts to earth from a geostationary orbit, you get microwatts on the ground.
And that’s not counting atmospheric losses.
Beaming power from space is a very nice sounding, elegant, even beautiful theory, which keeps getting mercilessly thrashed by a nasty little small-minded gang of pusillanimous facts.
It reminds me of the series of visionary, forward thinking companies that have come along promising to build cellular communications networks at a vastly reduced cost by putting the base stations in balloons/solar-powered drones/whatever high in the sky, so they don’t have to build all those expensive base statioins on earth, with their attendant zoning issues, construction problems, and ongoing leases.
There have been a half-dozen or so of these that have come along and made big promises, taken investors’ monies, and folded.
All because they didn’t pay attention to some very basic principles.
You’re forgetting tunable multiphoton systems that can avoid the various absorption windows in the atmosphere. Also – I forget the precise concept name offhand – but there’s the deliberately de-tuning of a laser or Maser and then having the atmosphere itself “tune” the beam.
Anyways, point being is that these things are not quite as science fiction as they once were.
There’s this little problem called the “inverse square law”. Because of this petty, ill-mannered little law of physics, when you beam kilowatts to earth from a geostationary orbit, you get microwatts on the ground.
Apparently you don’t understand how phased-array antennas, or lasers work.
I understand them quite well. That includes understanding that the inverse square law applies to them, too.
OK, then you are innumerate.
There are many problems with SPS, but the inverse squared law is not one of them.
I remember a movie, a long time back starring Andy Griffith. In it he played the owner of a junk yard where someone had scrapped an old rocket. Somehow he got it set up, fueled and launched and began a business salvaging used satellites that had outlived their service life. All this out of an idea no one had thought of.
Along those same lines, if you have read Atlas Shrugged, you would remember the lament of the moochers and looters, It’s not fair, I could have done that if I had only thought of it first! I deserve a part of the profits for being cheated out of an idea I could have had.
Maybe you didn’t think of it first and yes, many will try to copy this idea and some will be able to do it better, faster, and cheaper, but these two companies will have made their name and fortunes by that time and hopefully we will be on our way to the stars.
Poster Mark v is obviously dismissing something he has not read about at all. The collimated beam from a Solar Power Satellite can produce about 5 Gigawatts 24/7 in an area a few miles across from a transmitter about 1/2 mile across at GEO. The show-stopper right now is actually the astronomically high launch costs. We need to be able to launch thousand of TONS, not thousands of pounds. The launch situation is about to change. The Grasshopper is hopping!
I am also encouraged by the cautious business plans both asteroid companies are using. They are obviously not intending to “pull a Langley”. The initial steps are feasible with limited funding. The dawn of space infrastructure is coming soon, along with re-usable space vehicles. I think both companies have a good chance of success.
One different aspect of this company is its focus on 3-D manufacturing. Reports indicate they have a laser printer which probably uses nickel carbonyl gas to create solid nickel structures, not sintered from metal powder. This can result in very strong, complex structures, which would have immediate use here on Earth. This would provide an initial source of income.
These companies are not operating in an economic or political vacuum. As the cost of access to space decreases, it will become feasible to launch very heavy mining equipment into orbit and then towards a minable asteroid. If political obstacles slow down the process of launch cost reduction, it will significantly delay the ability of the companies to operate at their own schedule. In addition, the creation of re-usable in-space vehicles and infrastructure (space logistics bases) would greatly speed up the ability of the companies to conduct cost-efficient operations in space. There is some point in the cost per pound of payload to orbit that will allow them to operate at a large scale; above that point the ore is still rock. An intermediate step is the ability to return scientific samples of asteroids for use by government and university geologists and planetologists. Some of this material on Earth is currently priced at hundreds of dollars per gram.