How to Mine an Asteroid

STEP 1 - GET PROSPECTING

To mine an asteroid, a company like Planetary Resources first has to find one that promises a good return on investment. But asteroids don't glitter like stars. They are small, dark, and easily obscured by the distorting effect of Earth's atmosphere. The best way to hunt for them is with a telescope floating in space. At the Bellevue, Wash., headquarters of Planetary Resources, chief engineer and company president Chris Lewicki is assembling the components of the first privately owned space telescope, the Arkyd 100 series.

The 44-pound spacecraft will be smaller and simpler than any government-funded space telescope. The $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope has a 94-inch-diameter primary mirror; Arkyd's mirrors will be 9 inches wide. Hubble has a wide field of view, as well as other instruments to scan objects in distant space. Arkyd needs only to look in our own solar system for targets. Being small saves money: Rockets carrying larger sats could also haul these telescopes as secondary payloads, decreasing launch costs.

Planetary Resources plans to build a fleet of space telescopes to help drive the per-unit cost down to less than $10 million. Having multiple telescopes is insurance in case one fails. "We need to make something in an assembly line," says Lewicki, a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars mission manager. "We can't just build one precious jewel that we treat with kid gloves."

The Planetary Resources team will also rent out the Arkyd 100s, the company's first stab at making money. Its space telescopes can be used by cosmic researchers or by Earth scientists who want to examine the planet from space at a resolution of about 6 feet per pixel. Planetary Resources hopes to launch the first satellite by the end of 2013; company officials say rental prices have not yet been determined.

A NASA engineer stands in front of six segments of the James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror. Space miners may field the first privately owned space telescopes?and rent them out.

STEP 2 - ASSAY AND STAKE A CLAIM

Once company telescopes spot a mining prospect, there's only one way to determine what resources the asteroid contains: Get close.

The Planetary Resources team envisions a swarm of prospecting bots heading out to conduct close flybys of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). "We're talking about building interplanetary probes at a fraction of the cost [of current models], which requires doing things very differently," Diamandis says. NASA has used this form of propulsion twice for deep-space exploration. It uses electricity to positively charge xenon atoms, which are pulled out of the craft by magnets. The repulsive force provides thrust that propels a vessel, building speed over the course of years. It takes a while, but when it gets going the craft can exceed 200,000 mph.

The asteroids of interest likely will be less than 1 mile in diameter, too small to have appreciable gravity. Spacecraft don't land on such small asteroids; they dock to them. A spacecraft will slowly approach, getting close enough to barely touch the asteroid's surface before deploying an anchor. Grappling hooks might just grab a chunk of surface material and float away. A better option is to deploy drills in each landing pad that secure the craft to the surface.

The robot would then analyze the water and metal content of the asteroid and beam the results to Earth. The tool of choice for this assay would be a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy system, or LIBS. Lasers vaporize surface material so sensors can analyze the light emitted by the resulting plasma to identify elements. The first LIBS to be deployed to another world, ChemCam, is currently en route to Mars aboard NASA's Curiosity rover.

The prospecting craft might also tag the asteroid by planting a radio beacon on its surface. According to company officials, the beacon would do more than help future missions get a fix on an asteroid's location. "Placing a beacon is part of building a case for ownership," Diamandis says.

A private company's claim to an asteroid is uncharted legal territory. In the next decade lawyers may have to factor in the presence of private-sector entrepreneurs in the Outer Space Treaty, first signed in 1967 and ratified by more than 100 nations. If it turns out that possession really is nine-tenths of the law, then a simple radio transmitter could help make the miner's case.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/news/how-to-mine-an-asteroid-11644811?src=rss

the killing eli young band wrestlemania country music awards 2012 wrestlemania 28 results earl scruggs game of thrones