How We Will Get Asteroid Material Back To Earth

Tesla Roadster in space - courtesy wikipedia

We won't be hauling it down with a Tesla Roadster.

An asteroid one kilometer in diameter is parked at the Lagrange point L5 of the Earth/Moon gravitational system. The asteroid orbits the Earth at the same distance as the Moon - 238,900 miles. If a line were drawing through the center of the Earth to the Moon and the center of Earth to the asteroid there would be about a 45 degree angle between those lines. It is in a safe, stable orbit that does not require regular expenditures of fuel to keep it there. This safe, stable location was the deal between the United Nations and the company retrieving the giant space rock; actually more metal than rock. 16217 Ryugu contains iron, nickel, cobalt, water, nitrogen, hydrogen, and ammonia. 

Plastic bags are made from ethane, a part of natural gas burned as waste before they started making plastic bags. 

Outer space construction has not yet hit its stride so some cheap way is needed to get these metals to the surface of Earth where they can be sold. Here is how it could be done. 

If chunks of metal were cut off of Ryugu and simply dropped to Earth, it would be a mess. Chunks big enough not to vaporize completely upon reentry could do major damage. The velocity when it reached Earth would be nearly 200,000 miles per hour and create an explosion equivalent to 100,000 tons of TNT. So, for practicality, we need to get this stuff closer to Earth and reduce that velocity. 

Flaming mass making reentry - courtesy Neil Bleving

A deal is brokered between the powers that be on Earth and the asteroid mining company so that a million ton chunk of iron can be brought into a medium Earth orbit about 2,000 miles up with careful planning and monitoring. Along with it comes several space tugs and lots of water (from the asteroid) as fuel (electrolysis - oxygen, hydrogen) to keep it in orbit. Engines are anchored to the big asteroid chunk and will automatically kick in to prevent a deterioration in orbit. 

Any amount of heat one requires in outer space is available. One simply needs the right size mirror configured to apply that heat to an appropriately sized area on command. With this heat the stoney portions of an asteroid and, perhaps, lunar regolith can be melted and turned into ceramic. Metals can be melted down by these same mirrors. 

Concentrating mirrors cut off a 300 ton chunk of iron and begin to melt it down. 

Concurrently, stoney portions of the asteroid are melted to form ceramic. While the ceramic is molten, pre-heated (to prevent explosive expansion) nitrogen is introduced into the ceramic melt to produce a foamed ceramic material. This material will be formed into the shape of a lifting body similar to that of the Space Shuttle but about half the size.  As the hot nitrogen entrained in the ceramic cools it forms a partial vacuum, making the material much less conductive to heat. 

It takes 7 trucks to move the same number of paper bags as one truck moving plastic bags. 

The blob of iron melt is rammed into the ceramic mold. High temperature spargers inserted through the wall of the mold inject the iron with nitrogen as well, making a foamed metal having one tenth the weight of iron while still retaining much of its strength.

Once out of the mold, a foamed-ceramic mat is attached to the bottom of the foamed metal lifting body. and a steering module is inserted into the cavity molded in the rear to accept it. This is a heat-resistant rudder and elevators on vertical and horizontal stabilizers controlled by an onboard GPS and autopilot. Built in space with only the electronics and motor coming from Earth, those parts are used again while the rest is recycled. 

A railgun is built on the mass of the asteroid chunk and points at a tangent point to Earth about 100 miles above the surface. The lifting body is attached through grooves molded into it and launched towards Earth at 20,000 miles per hour retrograde to orbital velocity. When the lifting body reaches the upper atmosphere, it is going much slower in relation to the Earth, allowing a safe, guided landing on a shallow lake where it is recovered. 

The bubbled metal might be worth many times its solid value, making the whole operation profitable. Many types of metallurgy may be possible in a vacuum and weightlessness that aren’t feasible on Earth. We could be talking about metals such as high temperature inconels that are very expensive. I designed a coil in a furnace, the prototype for making BPA free plastic bottles, where a 6 inch schedule 40 (1/4” thick wall) piece of pipe cost $1200 per linear foot. 

For smaller packages of very valuable metals like platinum or palladium, NASA may have just the thing. They have developed a folding heat shield. A small reentry vessel with a hundred pounds of palladium has a heat shield that folds out to a much larger size than the vessel itself, creating a shield off of which most of the frictional heat is sloughed away around the side of the vessel on its reentry path to an elevation and speed at which it can deploy a parachute. Be there to pick it up before someone else gets it because that's 1.6 million dollars we're talking about. 

courtesy NASA

These are the possibilities once we start thinking about how to maximize the payback for such a massive undertaking as capturing an asteroid. Of course, the real payoff for the asteroid miner will be when construction off world begins, increasing the value of their asteroid many times. Unexpected returns will be the technological advances necessary to get this done that will eventually work their way into our everyday lives. 

Other articles you may enjoy:

Oumuamua: Alien Probe or Asteroid? It Could Be Both

Cryptocurrency Is Going Into Space

Going Back To the Moon Is Not Just for Governments Anymore

Why It Is a Certainty We Will Become a Space-Based Civilization

Asteroid Mining - How to Pick the Right Asteroid

Recycling Asteroids For Fun and Profit

Taking the 06-03-25 Asteroid Shuttle to Mars - An Alternative to Planned Mars Missions

A Heavy Metal, Cannibalistic Asteroid Propulsion System

Sticking the Landing On Your Billion Dollar Asteroid

Artificial Intelligence and Asteroid Mining Will Be a (Necessary) Match Made In the Heavens

The Weapon of Mass Destruction Nobody Is Talking About

How We Can Diminish the Possibility of Water Wars

There's An Asteroid Out There With All of Our Names On It

What Will Be the Most Common Currency In a Future Space-Based Society?

Workers In Space Will Live In Igloos

The Military Values High Ground - Space Is the Highest

Very Large Scale 3D Printing In Space

Energy and Space; Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

China’s Strategy for the Future Is Scary Smart

We Will Live on the Moon: the How and Why

Your World Is Changing

This is a glimpse into the future, and one of the many technologies seamlessly incorporated into the space opera Transmat World. 

While Peak Oil and Climate Change are being debated by politicos, the nerds that actually bothered to attend math and science classes and listen are telling us it is a rapidly changing world, and not for the better. Population growth and global warming are increasing at a break-neck speed. 

Prospective Peak Oil Scenario

Image courtesy Raquel Baranow
(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Although your life seems normal now, it won’t stay that way. Wind, solar, and nuclear energy projects of the future won’t be built on the basis of a referendum. They will be mandatory. Cars will have to go hydrogen (derived from electrolysis) or electric. 

And so will planes. The future of the airline industry for rapid travel about the globe will have to change. Jet aircraft will have to adopt hydrogen as a fuel. But there is an alternative. It is slower and harkens back to an earlier time, but modern technology breathes new life into the concept of an airship.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

By combining several unique concepts, modern airships will revolutionize air travel, carrying 5,000 passengers at a time for the cost of construction and maintenance - no fuel involved. 

The major problem with airships in the past has been two-fold: 
1. They required ballast to offset lift, therefore the ballast and the lifting gas became consumables, each one in turn having to be jettisoned to make the craft rise or fall. 
2. They could not land like a plane. A ground crew was required to handle the lighter-than-air craft, and it could not be done in a stiff breeze.


These two problems and more have been fixed. You start with a lighter-than-air lifting body and add wings and a solid floor to which everything is attached. Flexible solar cells cover the body and power up lithium-ion batteries which turn motors and props, thrusting it through the air silently without products of combustion fouling the atmosphere.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE

Lifting bags of helium, the lifting body design, and the wings provide lift. The frame of the ship is not metal. It is light-weight inflatable structures, much like the bouncy castle used for a kid’s birthday party. This structure is heavier duty, utilizing modern fiber technology to allow higher pressures resulting in a much stiffer support. These air-filled trusses support the solar cell skin on the outside and the lifting bags of helium on the inside.


The helium lifting bags are the key to making the airship work properly. They provide the lift to allow this ship to carry thousands of passengers or heavy cargo. Unlike in the past, however, the lifting gas does not have to be discharged to allow the ship to land. Instead, pumps suck out the helium gas, storing it in pressurized containers for re-use. This causes the lift bags to be variable in their lifting capacity, allowing the pilot to switch to a slightly heavier-than-air mode for more maneuverability when landing. The fact that it can land and be hangared like a plane greatly increases its safety in inclement weather.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

The rich will always ride their jets of combustion no matter the cost, but for millions the price of airfare could drop dramatically with the advent of solar-powered airships. We should start talking about planning and implementation now because it is not a matter of if but when.


Please leave your thoughts, comments, suggestions. They are always welcome.

Thanks,
Glen Hendrix, author of Transmat World

Move over FedEx, Here Comes FatEx

You may have read my blog on the necessity of change. Population growth and global warming are increasing at a break-neck speed. Although your life seems normal now, it won’t stay that way. Wind, solar, and nuclear energy projects of the future won’t be built on the basis of a referendum. They will be mandatory. Cars will have to go hydrogen (derived from electrolysis) or electric. And so will planes. The future of the airline industry for hauling freight and people about the globe will have to change. Jet aircraft will have to adopt hydrogen as a fuel. But there is an alternative. It is slower and harkens back to an earlier time, but modern technology breathes new life into the concept of an airship.

My previous post on this subject touched on passenger air travel but this concept is even more appropriate when talking about freight. By combining several unique concepts, modern airships will revolutionize air travel; carrying 500 tons cross country at 100 mph--no fuel involved. The major problem with airships in the past has been two-fold: 1. They required ballast to offset lift, therefore the ballast and the lifting gas became consumables, each one in turn having to be jettisoned to make the craft rise or fall. 2. They could not land like a plane. A ground crew was required to handle the lighter-than-air craft, and it could not be done in a stiff breeze.



These two problems and more have technical fixes. You start with a lighter-than-air lifting body and add wings and a solid floor to which everything is attached. Flexible solar cells cover the body and power up lithium-ion batteries which turn motors and props, thrusting it through the air silently without the products of combustion fouling the atmosphere.

Lifting bags of helium, the lifting body design, and the wings provide lift. The frame of the ship is not metal. It is light-weight inflatable structures, much like the bouncy castle used for a kid’s birthday party. But this "bouncy castle" is heavier duty, utilizing modern fiber technology to allow higher pressures resulting in a much stiffer support. These air-filled trusses support the solar cell skin on the outside and the lifting bags of helium on the inside.



Helium lifting bags are the key to making the airship work properly. They, along with the wings and lifting body, provide the lift to allow this ship to carry a million pounds of cargo. Unlike in the past, however, helium does not have to be discharged to allow the ship to land. Instead, pumps suck out the helium gas, storing it in pressurized containers for re-use. This causes the lift bags to be variable in their lifting capacity, allowing the pilot to switch to a slightly heavier-than-air mode for more maneuverability when landing. The fact that it can land and be hangared like a plane greatly increases its safety in bad weather.

When it has to be there overnight, jets rule, but for the majority of freight, the price could drop dramatically with the advent of solar-powered airships, and it would be a start in cleaning up and revitalizing an industry that is so important to us all.


Please leave your thoughts, comments, suggestions. They are always welcome.

Thanks,
Glen Hendrix, author of Transmat World

Dramatic Changes Coming to the Airline Industry

It is a rapidly changing world. Population growth and global warming are increasing at a break-neck speed. Although your life seems normal now, it won’t stay that way. Wind, solar, and nuclear energy projects of the future won’t be built on the basis of a referendum. They will be mandatory. Cars will have to go hydrogen (derived from electrolysis) or electric. And so will planes. The future of the airline industry for rapid travel about the globe will have to change. Jet aircraft will have to adopt hydrogen as a fuel. But there will be a future alternative. It is slower and harkens back to an earlier time, but modern technology breathes new life into the concept of an airship. Click on any image to enlarge.

The future of air travel.

By combining several unique concepts, modern airships will revolutionize air travel; carrying 5,000 passengers at a time for the cost of construction and maintenance - no fuel involved. The major problem with airships in the past has been two-fold: 1. They required ballast to offset lift, therefore the ballast and the lifting gas became consumables, each one in turn having to be jettisoned to make the craft rise or fall. 2. They could not land like a plane. A ground crew was required to handle the lighter-than-air craft, and it could not be done in a stiff breeze.

It costs $4000 to recycle ton of plastic bags worth $500 on open market.

These two problems and more have been fixed. You start with a lighter-than-air lifting body and add wings and a solid floor to which everything is attached. Flexible solar cells cover the body and power up lithium-ion batteries which turn motors and props, thrusting it through the air silently without the products of combustion fouling the atmosphere.

An inside look.

Lifting bags of helium, the lifting body design, and the wings provide lift. The frame of the ship is not metal. It is light-weight inflatable structures, much like the bouncy castle used for a kid’s birthday party. This structure is heavier duty than a bouncy castle, utilizing modern fiber technology to allow higher pressures resulting in a much stiffer support. These air-filled trusses support the solar cell skin on the outside and the lifting bags of helium on the inside.

The helium lifting bags are the key to making the airship work properly. They provide the lift to allow this ship to carry thousands of passengers or heavy cargo. Unlike in the past, however, helium does not have to be discharged to allow the ship to land. Instead, pumps suck down the helium gas, storing it in pressurized containers for re-use. This causes the lift bags to be variable in their lifting capacity, allowing the pilot to switch to a slightly heavier-than-air mode for more maneuverability when landing. The fact that it can land and be hangared like a plane greatly increases its safety in inclement weather.

If this had been around 15 years ago, the “paper or plastic” question would be moot. 

The landing can use such a short runway, for all intents and purposes, this airship is a vertical take-off and landing craft. As such, it can scoff at airports. This will be the air transport of Africa, developing its vast territories like no commercial airliner or wheeled vehicle can. It will bring Africa into the 21st Century.

Plenty of room.

The rich will always ride their jets of combustion no matter the cost for the speed, but for millions of more patient people the price of airfare could drop dramatically with the advent of solar-powered airships. We should start talking about planning and implementation now because it is not a matter of if but when.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions are always welcome.

Thanks,
Glen Hendrix, author of Transmat World