Date: 11/08/2016 19:52:32
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939102
Subject: First Commercial Mining Mission

The First Commercial Interplanetary Mining Mission

Deep Space Industries has announced its plans to fly the world’s first commercial interplanetary mining mission. Prospector-1 will fly to and rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid, and investigate the object to determine its value as a source of space resources. This mission is an important step in the company’s plans to harvest and supply in-space resources to support the growing space economy.

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Date: 11/08/2016 20:23:39
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939113
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

Three are three main groups of Asteroids, feel free to correct., I copied these from wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System

Asteroid Belt

Asteroid belt extends from Mars to Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU from the Sun.

Asteroids except for the largest, Ceres, are classified as small Solar System bodies and are composed mainly of refractory rocky and metallic minerals, with some ice. They range from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres in size. Asteroids smaller than one meter are usually called meteoroids and micrometeoroids (grain-sized), depending on different, somewhat arbitrary definitions.

The asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU from the Sun. It is thought to be remnants from the Solar System’s formation that failed to coalesce because of the gravitational interference of Jupiter. The asteroid belt contains tens of thousands, possibly millions, of objects over one kilometre in diameter. Despite this, the total mass of the asteroid belt is unlikely to be more than a thousandth of that of Earth. The asteroid belt is very sparsely populated; spacecraft routinely pass through without incident.

Kuiper belt

Kuiper belt extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun.

The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but consisting mainly of objects composed primarily of ice. It extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun. Though it is estimated to contain anything from dozens to thousands of dwarf planets, it is composed mainly of small Solar System bodies. Many of the larger Kuiper belt objects, such as Quaoar, Varuna, and Orcus, may prove to be dwarf planets with further data. There are estimated to be over 100,000 Kuiper belt objects with a diameter greater than 50 km, but the total mass of the Kuiper belt is thought to be only a tenth or even a hundredth the mass of Earth. Many Kuiper belt objects have multiple satellites, and most have orbits that take them outside the plane of the ecliptic.

The Kuiper belt can be roughly divided into the “classical” belt and the resonances. Resonances are orbits linked to that of Neptune (e.g. twice for every three Neptune orbits, or once for every two). The first resonance begins within the orbit of Neptune itself. The classical belt consists of objects having no resonance with Neptune, and extends from roughly 39.4 AU to 47.7 AU. Members of the classical Kuiper belt are classified as cubewanos, after the first of their kind to be discovered, (15760) 1992 QB1, and are still in near primordial, low-eccentricity orbits.

Oort cloud

Oort cloud extends from 50,000 AU (around 1 light-year (ly)), possibly out to 100,000 AU

The Oort cloud is a hypothetical spherical cloud of up to a trillion icy objects that is thought to be the source for all long-period comets and to surround the Solar System at roughly 50,000 AU (around 1 light-year (ly)), and possibly to as far as 100,000 AU (1.87 ly). It is thought to be composed of comets that were ejected from the inner Solar System by gravitational interactions with the outer planets. Oort cloud objects move very slowly, and can be perturbed by infrequent events, such as collisions, the gravitational effects of a passing star, or the galactic tide, the tidal force exerted by the Milky Way.

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Date: 11/08/2016 20:46:00
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939116
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

another asteroid article

http://www.universetoday.com/130231/long-take-get-asteroid-belt/#

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Date: 11/08/2016 20:57:13
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939117
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

and another one

http://www.universetoday.com/33406/interesting-facts-about-asteroids/

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Date: 11/08/2016 21:00:29
From: stumpy_seahorse
ID: 939119
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

why do they call them asteroids when they are in space, but hemorrhoids when they’re in your ass?

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Date: 11/08/2016 21:01:15
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939120
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

I have an idea

that returning spacecraft leave their engines and other bits for new arrival space craft

which could then attach themselves to existing engines etc

and the process repeats until end of life

this could make other launches lighter

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Date: 11/08/2016 21:04:22
From: AwesomeO
ID: 939126
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

CrazyNeutrino said:


I have an idea

that returning spacecraft leave their engines and other bits for new arrival space craft

which could then attach themselves to existing engines etc

and the process repeats until end of life

this could make other launches lighter

Probably impracticable. As shuttle has demonstrated testing and recommissioning even a simple solid fuel booster is difficult and expensive on earth with a big department dedicated to doing just that.

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Date: 11/08/2016 21:06:30
From: ChrispenEvan
ID: 939128
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

it’s the fuel load that is the killer to get off Earth.

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Date: 11/08/2016 21:17:09
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939145
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

AwesomeO said:


CrazyNeutrino said:

I have an idea

that returning spacecraft leave their engines and other bits for new arrival space craft

which could then attach themselves to existing engines etc

and the process repeats until end of life

this could make other launches lighter

Probably impracticable. As shuttle has demonstrated testing and recommissioning even a simple solid fuel booster is difficult and expensive on earth with a big department dedicated to doing just that.

that’s all now changing thanks to SpaceX and Blue Origin reusable rockets

SpaceX have the Falcon family of rockets

Blue Origin’s Reusable Rocket Just Stuck Its Third Landing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX

SpaceX reusable launch system development program

Blue Origin have the New Shepard rocket

Blue Origin’s Reusable Rocket Just Stuck Its Third Landing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Shepard

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Date: 11/08/2016 21:18:15
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939147
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

10 breakthrough technologies 2016 reusable rockets

Thousands of rockets have flown into space, but not until 2015 did one return like this: it came down upright on a landing pad, steadily firing to control its descent, almost as if a movie of its launch were being played backward. If this can be done regularly and rockets can be refueled over and over, spaceflight could become a hundred times cheaper.

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Date: 11/08/2016 21:24:13
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939154
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

CrazyNeutrino said:


AwesomeO said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

I have an idea

that returning spacecraft leave their engines and other bits for new arrival space craft

which could then attach themselves to existing engines etc

and the process repeats until end of life

this could make other launches lighter

Probably impracticable. As shuttle has demonstrated testing and recommissioning even a simple solid fuel booster is difficult and expensive on earth with a big department dedicated to doing just that.

that’s all now changing thanks to SpaceX and Blue Origin reusable rockets

SpaceX have the Falcon family of rockets

Blue Origin’s Reusable Rocket Just Stuck Its Third Landing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX

SpaceX reusable launch system development program

Blue Origin have the New Shepard rocket

Blue Origin’s Reusable Rocket Just Stuck Its Third Landing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Shepard

SpaceX Article

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/may/06/spacex-lands-reusable-rocket-for-second-time

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Date: 11/08/2016 21:25:23
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 939155
Subject: re: First Commercial Mining Mission

Technology does not wait for naysayers

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