ASTEROID MINING S H E N G E G E N E H A S ATA K H Y E R I M K - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

ECONOMICS OF ASTEROID MINING S H E N G E G E N E H A S ATA K H Y E R I M K I M K A I D U E R F E L D K I R A N K U M A R T I K A R E

OUTLINE Orbits Economic Asteroid Mining & Demand Geology Tech Propulsion Net Revenue Present and Cost Value Example Case

GROWING INTEREST IN SPACE MINING

ASTEROID RESOURCES Chart from Charles Gerlach

NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS • Ne Near ar-Ear Earth th Aster eroids oids (N (NEAs) EAs) ar are of interest erest due e to th the e rel elat ativ ive e ea ease e of rea eaching ching th them. em. • All ll NE NEAs s have e perihe ihelion lion le less s th than an 1.3 1.3 AUs. s. Image Credit: William K Hartmann

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF NEAS Diameter(m) >1000 1000-140 140-40 40-1 Distance (km) <400,000 < 20 million, <32,000 for which (Lunar orbit) >20 million F>100 > 400,000 >32,000 >20 (  =0.5  m) (GEO orbit) H(absolute 17.75 17.75-22.0 22.0-24.75 >24.75 magnitude) N estimated 966 `14,000 ~285,000 ?? N observed 899 4,557 2,259 1,685 O/E 93% ~33% ~1% ?? Image Credit: http://www.iau.org/public/nea/

KNOWN NEAS Image Credit: NASA JPL

FROM EARTH TO ASTEROID & BACK 1. Ground ound Base se Sta tati tion on (Ea Earth th) to LEO LEO 2. Spac ace e Base se Station ion (at t LE LEO) ) Transpor nsportati tation on Hub • Communicat munications ions • • Fuel Storag rage • Manuf ufact acturing uring 3. Target rget Base se Sta tati tion on (Ast ster eroid) oid)

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS Economic Asteroid Demand Composition Mining Astrodynamics Technologies and Propulsion

ECONOMIC DEMAND Processor Producer End customer (Space tourist) House tourists Products and services Rent space for science Reload site / emporium Rent storage capacity Space jewelry collection Our Processing plant Storage Production plant Fuel station $$$ costs $$$ own usage $$$ revenue

TYPES OF NEAS C-type Carbonaceous (water, volatiles) S-type M-type Stony Metallic (silicates, (metals) sulfides, metals)

MATERIALS FROM NEAS Materi rial al Product uct Raw silicate Ballast or shielding in space Water and other volatiles Propellant in space Nickel-Iron (Ni-Fe) metal Space structures Construction on earth Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) Catalyst for fuel cells and auto catalyzers on earth Jewelry on earth Semiconductor metals Space solar arrays Electronics on earth

NEA ORBIT TYPES Image Credit: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/groups.html

ACCESSIBILITY We wan ant t to find nd th the as asteroi oids ds wi with th lo low w delta lta-vs vs to reduce uce propellant pellant need eded. ed. Distribution of specific linear momentum of a Hohmann transfer from low Earth orbit (LEO) to NEAs according to Benner. Image Credit: Elvis, McDowell, Hoffman, and Binzel. “Ultra -low Delta-v Objects and the Human Exploration of Asteroids.”

ACCESSIBILITY: ROCKET EQ whe here Δv = velo locity city change nge V e = exhaus ust velocity ocity M o = total ma mass ss M p = propellant ellant mass ss Two Options: ons: 1. 1. Reduce e delta-v v requi uired red for traject ectories ories to enable ble low- thrus ust propulsion ulsion meth ethods s su such as el s electri tric, c, so solar thermal, al, or so solar r sa sail propuls ulsion. ion. 2. Use 2. se che hemi mical cal propuls ulsion ion for hi high h thr hrust st traject ectories ories if f needed. ed.

ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLE “Apollo - Type” Mission Image Credit: Sonter’s Thesis

LOW DELTA-VS FOR MANY NEAS Compa pare re! Image Credit: Elvis, McDowell, Hoffman, and Binzel. “Ultra -low Delta- v Objects and the Human Exploration of Asteroids.” Image Credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commo ns/c/c9/Deltavs.svg

ROCKET PROPULSION TECHNOLOGIES CLASSIFICATION NON NON – CHEMICAL CHEMICAL PROPULSION PROPULSION - Elect ectric ic propuls ulsion ion - Liqui iquid d Stora rable ble - Resistojet - Liqui iquid d Cryogen ogenic ic - Ion thruster - Solid id - Arcjet - Hybri rid - Hall thruster - Cold d Gas/Warm rm Gas - Solar ar sail l propulsion ulsion - Therm rmal l propulsion pulsion - Pulsed lsed plasm sma propu puls lsion ion - Magnetoplas oplasmadyn dynamic amic

MINING SYSTEM MODEL Rock Explorer Excavator Processor Breaker

MINING STEP 1: EXPLORER Explorer lorer is a li light t fast st robot t equipp equipped ed with h a • Rock ck Bre reak aker er an and ch chem emic ical al an anal alyz yzers ers that at ca can n sco cout ut viable le mi mini ning ng are reas. s. Lo Low mo mobility lity en envir ironmen onment t pre revents ents us use e of • wheeled eeled rover er. Locomo moti tion on Mode Exampl ple Feasib sibil ility ty Locati tion on Hopping Jumping Tortoise, High Surface Ciliary Micro- hopper Grasping Rock Climber High Surface, Underground Legged Multi-limbed Medium Surface Rover, Big Dog

MINING STEP 1: EXPLORER EXAMPLES Image Credit: Yoshida. “Jumping Tortoise: A Robot Design for Locomotion on Micro Gravity Surface.” Image Credit: Nagaoka , et al. “ Ciliary Micro-Hopping Locomotion of an Asteroid Exploration Robot.” Image Credit: Chacin and Yoshida. “Multi - Image Credit: Nakamura, Shimoda, and limbed Rover for Asteroid Surface Image Credit: Yoshida, Maruki, and Yano. Shoji. “Mobility of a Microgravity Rover Exploration using Static Locomotion.” “A Novel Strategy for Asteroid Exploration using Internal Electromagnetic with a Surface Robot.” Levitation.”

MINING STEP 2: ROCK BREAKER EXAMPLES Electric Rockbreaking Controlled Foam Injection (CFI) Microwave Diamond Wire Sawing Drilling Image Credits: Harper, G.S. “ Nederburg Miner.”

MINING STEP 3A: ROCK EXCAVATOR • The e e excavator or di digs gs up up large ge quantit itie ies s of rock ck in in the e ar area ea the e Expl plorer rer + Rock ck Brea eaker er has as id iden entif ifie ied d as v via iable. e. It is is t the e main in min iner er. • Currentl ently y extremel emely y common mmon on Earth h and d ther ere e are r e robotic tic ones es unde der de devel elopmen pment t such ch as Qin inet etiQ iQ Spa partacus acus: Pa Parameter Quanti ntity ty Capacity 4540 kg Speed 2.33 m/s Range 800 m Power Diesel Volume 5.97 m 3 Mass 5675 kg

MINING STEP 3A: ROCK EXCAVATOR EXAMPLE QinetiQ Spartacus Image Credits: QinetiQ

MINING STEP 3B: WATER EXTRACTOR Image Credits: Zacny et al. “Mobile In -situ Water Extractor Water ice extraction from soils (MISWE) for Mars, Moon, and Asteroids In Situ Resource currently being developed by Utilization.” Honeybee called the Mars In-situ Water Extractor (MISWE).

MINING STEP 4: PROCESSOR • Dep epending ending on n the e type e of mi mine neral ral or r met metal al, , process ocessing ng it on-sit site e ma may be e mo more re fea easible sible than n bri ring nging ng it back ck to Earth. Chem emist stry Type Techn hnique Metal Loose grains Electrostatic or magnetic Macroscopic lumps separation Interconnected Crush and then sieve dendrites Carbonyl separation Volatiles With minor silicates Melt slabs Minor component Drill into, vaporize, distill Chemically combined Severe heating (> 800 K) Hydrocarbons With major silicates Heat and distill

MINING STEP 4: PROCESSOR EXAMPLE Conceptual process flow sheet for volatiles extraction from carbonaceous chondrite-type asteroid. Image Credit: Sonter , Mark. “Technical and Economic Feasibility of Mining the Near- Earth Asteroids.”

MINING SYSTEM DESIGN Robot Qty Subtot Rock Breaker* Qty Subtot Excavator Qty Subtot Processor Qty Subtot Total Names Microbot 100 N/A N/A N/A iRobot 710 Electric Rock- Warrior 3 breaking 3 Generic 1 None Mass (kg) 0.1 100 10 0 0 0 1145.493 226.8 3 680.4 0.5 3 1.5 453.5925 1 453.59 0 0 0 kg Carryi ng Mass (kg) 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 907.185 136.1 3 408.3 0 0 0 907.185 1 907.19 0 0 0 kg Power (W) 0.1 100 10 0 0 0 0 0 122000 500 3 1500 40000 3 120000 500 1 500 0 0 0 W Volum 4188.790 e (m3) 205 100 418879 0 0 0 0 0 612553.0 2257040 45 3 2E+06 0.5 3 1.5 500 1 500 0 0 0 m 3

PHASES OF MINING Phase se I: Technology Development on Earth Duration: Goals: Development and manufacturing of necessary equipment 5 years Phase se II: Infrastructure Setup in Space Duration: Goals: Establish an operation base in space; Send mining module to 5 years target asteroid; Send cargo module to target asteroid Phase se III: : Mining Initialization (Reconnaissance) Duration: Goals: Initialize mining process 3 years Phase se IV: Manufacturing and Consumption Duration: Goals: Continue mining process; Sell the product 3 years