Posted on 11/09/2005 4:09:21 PM PST by anymouse
You and I are in complete agreement in this matter.
Eventually, someone will have to set up shop out there. Human nature being what it is, that group of individuals will realize the heady opportunity that awaits them.
The wealth is there, all that is required is the application of energy. Oddly enough, most of the energy needed is there also.
The advantage of this approach would be that you wouldn't need to worry about acting through the center of mass of the body. However, the math seems unfortunate. Let's run the numbers.
If we assume the "asteroid the size of 2 football fields" is a sphere with a 100 meter radius, with the density of basalt (~3000 kg/m3), then it has a mass of about 4.2 million kg. The space tug has a mass of about 40,000 kg, which is essentially negligible. At any rate, the gravitational attraction between them works out to F = G * 4.2e6/r2 = 2.8e-4/r2.
At an altitude of 100 meters (radius of 200 meters), the gravitational acceleration is on the order of 7e-9 m/sec2
For this gravity deal to work, you'd need to stand off the asteroid by a constant distance, and to do that you'd need to continuously fire the thrusters, with a net force equal to that of the gravitational attraction. That, theoretically, would pull the asteroid off-course.
For that acceleration, to impart a delta-V of 1 m/sec would take 1635 days (4.5 years) of continuous thrust.
If you stood off by 10 meters (radius = 110 meters) you'd get 1 m/sec in 500 days, but it'd probably be difficult to avoid impingement by your thrusters without enormous cosine losses.
The math seems to say it's possible, but not attractive. I think it'd probably be a lot more effective to simply cement a grapling hook on the thing and slowly pull it away.
The fly in the ointment being that you'd somehow have to make money off your asteroid mining venture. So the obvious question is: what can you get from an asteroid that's cheaper than one can get it here on Earth?
(crickets...)
The only way your venture makes sense, is if there's already a serious space-based industrial capacity. No terrestrial applications of your mining operation are going to be profit-makers until then, and maybe not even then.
The little one will have a rocket and the force will be working over several years to move it a few hundred feet. It's very possible.
Nice math. Are you a rocket scientist?
Asteroid stuff, of course! I'd start a line of small robot/toys whose only function would be as towel-warmers. They would wander around near the bathroom, and the excess heat would accumulate in the towels on their "heads."
After selecting your towel, you would signal to the robot you were done by kicking it in the "can."
They'd be made of asteroid material, and come from "little stars," so the connection to Star Wars would be obvious.
I'd want to call them Droids, and they come from asteroids so I'd want play off that... let's see, (blank) droids... Hmmm. Asterobots? Aster.... Hmmm.
Orbit guy.
I remember a story (it's hiding on the hard drive here, somewhere) from about 1998 regarding the use of a series of asteroids to alter the Earth's orbit, over time moving it outward in order to avoid burning up when the Sun starts to expand millions of years from now.
I may have filed it under "too much time on the hands"...
Leningrad Cowboys
» Space Tractor
Eighteen years ago I saw this U.F.O
And saddled up my tractor for a cosmic caravan
I followed it through space and found this distant place
Where everything is perfect for alien and a man
We're carefree and easy and light years from home
Why don't you lose that frown and let your hair down
Come on let's link together in zero gravity
I was born in Moscow baby You could maybe be my girl
Ride my tractor all night long And everyone will sing our song
We put on a great show a tractor rodeo
Everyone's invited everyone should come
Ten tractors in the night Ride shotgun if you like
We're modern day space cowboys always on the run
We're carefree and easy and light years from home
Why don't you lose that frown and let your hair down
Come on let's link together in zero gravity
I was born in Moscow baby You could maybe be my girl
Ride my tractor all night long And everyone will sing our song
Rev 8:7-12
7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water- 11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
(from New International Version)
Or a Massey-Ferguson???
Sounds like some of the commentary on Seward's proposed purchase of Alaska. Better invest in General Motors instead.
The asteroid is on a collision course with earth. That is why anybody cares to move it. But, there aren't several years. Due to failure to preplace hardware, there are six months.
I'm saying nothing more than I always say: for your idea to have any chance of succeeding, you need to present a realistic business case that will a) make money; and b) have a reasonable return on investment in a reasonable amount of time. You've not yet managed to do that.
I have, but not on this forum. This forum is not an appropriate venue.
The Planetary Report article from last summer, outlining the problem and explaining why we may need a mission to it in the next decade to determine if it is really a problem in time to prevent a disaster, is finally online here.
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