Posted on 04/15/2023 7:52:20 AM PDT by Twotone
AstroForge, a startup with plans to mine asteroids, is getting ready to launch the first of its two missions on Friday, of which the main objective is to test the firm’s technique for refining platinum from a sample of asteroid-like material.
The startup has placed a payload on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, pre-packed with elements similar to those found in asteroids. Working in Earth’s orbit, the OrbAstro-built cubesat will attempt to vaporize and sort the materials into their elemental components. Sign Up for the Battery Metals Digest
AstroForge says its vehicle Brokkr-1 aims to demonstrate the company’s refining capabilities in the vacuum of space and zero gravity.
The second mission, scheduled for October this year, will focus on scouting an already identified asteroid that is close enough to Earth to potentially be mined.
The rideshare mission, chartered by Intuitive Machines, will attempt to send the second spacecraft —Brokkr-2 — to the (so far undisclosed) asteroid located 35.4 million km (22 million miles) from Earth for a future retrieval mission.
The company said it would take about 11 months to reach the celestial body. The overall mission will last two years, with spacecraft testing continuing after the flyby to simulate a projected round-trip mission.
(Excerpt) Read more at mining.com ...
If this works.
Probably won't.
But you never know.
Yes, but mining is environmentally harmful.....
Wow. This is cool. I can’t wait to see what we learn from this.
Don’t forget the lawyers.
Good luck laying a legal claim to asteroids.
You will anger the citizens of Uranus. “That’s our baby!”
If they are bringing back asteroids for mining a bit closer, might I suggest “landing” them? I have a list of targets — uh, good sites.
Brokkr-1 aims to demonstrate the company’s refining capabilities in the vacuum of space and zero gravity.
= = =
Joe Biden + Fetterman will give you a vacuum of space and gravity. Right here, still on Earth.
It would be great if they found an asteroid that was primarily diamond or gold.
It’ll work as a test bed, but scaling it up to actually be useful will be EXPENSIVE and you better be darn sure there is something worth digging up up on those asteroids and in useable quantities.
Baby steps.
Just remember. Not everything that looks like a geode...
...is a geode:
Being a space and science nerd, I think this is really cool. But being a guy who thinks about financial issues, what would it do to the gold markets if someone found an asteroid the size of say Alaska that was almost solid gold, and they could “easily” mine, and return this gold to the Earth. I would say the same thing about diamonds, but anything that crashes DeBeers artificially inflated prices of useless pieces of compressed carbon is a good thing.
Easy to circumvent.
NEVER claim the entire asteroid.
Pulverize it and claim the materials.
Leave a couple of rocks and it’s technically still there.
I’m hoping gold is found on these asteroids. LOTS OF IT.
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