Table of Contents
History Team
Historic Record
Establishing a Space Station
In the earlier 20th century science fiction writers have written about space travel where astronauts could explore space and discover new planets. Science fiction even went one step further and postulated that mankind would not only travel in space but also live in space. While no international space agencies have yet to capture and extract material from an asteroid, many space agencies have established a space station. We use this as a basis for our proposed LEO asteroid re-fueling station.
The first nation to launch and put inhabitants in a space station were the Russians with their Salyut program space stations. The first Salyut’s (1 thru 5) demonstrated that human beings could live and work in space for extended periods of time. The cosmonauts conducted experiments in life sciences, astronomy, Earth observations, and material processing (Sellers, 321). They as developed procedures for automated resupply, extravehicular activities, in-flight maintenance, and repairs (Sellers, 321). The biggest breakthrough for the Salyut program was the engineer’s ability to keep the space station in space despite encountering atmospheric drag. Engineers developed small retro-rockets on-board the Salyut to give small burst of thrust to keep it in orbit (Big, Bigger, Biggest: Space Station). The Salyut 4 cosmonauts spent a record-setting 63-days in space. Salyut 6 and 7 were a significant advanced over their predecessors. These space stations consisted of five modules and two docking ports rather than two modules and one docking port. The crew had access to a shower and used self-contained space suits (Sellers, 321). Salyut 6 was visited by 33 cosmonauts, and was kept it in space for 676 days. Salyut 7, which was the last of the Salyut missions, had a total of ten crews spent a collective 812 days onboard. The experience gained in the Salyut program laid the foundation for the development and operation of Russia’s next generation space station MIR.
The US was not far behind in launching their first space station Skylab. The Skylab program had two objectives: (1) Prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods, (2) and to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-based observations (Launius, 71). Three crews spent a total of 171 days in space and conducted 300 scientific and technical experiments to include medical experiments on humans’ adaptability to micro-gravity, solar observations, and detailed Earth resources experiments. Skylab program’s biggest obstacle that had to be overcome was communication. The crew had to stay in constant communication and achieved this by having an array of communication dishes and airliners equipped with radar dishes so the crew could stay in constant communication with mission control (Big, Bigger, Biggest: Space Station). Today satellites in orbit accomplish the same task.
The Russians, learning from their experience with the Salyut program, could take the next step in long-duration space travel with the development of the MIR. The space station MIR stayed in orbit for 15 years and took nearly 10 years to complete construction of all 7 modules. MIR was both the next step in learning new techniques and procedures in constructing modules in space that proved a vital stepping stone in the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) (Launius, 148). One of these procedures was designing a new spacesuit that allowed the cosmonauts to assembly the modules on the MIR without interferences. Many crews and records were set on MIR as Valeri Polyakov live aboard MIR for a total of 437 continuous days and Sergei Avdeyev culminated 747 days in space from three missions (Launius, 148). MIR not only set records it also conducted numerous experiments in the fields of astronomy, material processing, and remote sensing. All these advancements would play a role in the production of the International Space Station (ISS).
The ISS is the pinnacle of space station technology in terms of size, construction, and longevity. The ISS presented a new challenge that engineers had to overcome; due to its size the probability of getting struck by space debris increases dramatically. To counter this threat the ISS has several layers of protection surrounding the vulnerable areas of the space station.
From these past experiences, we can create a base model of what a space habitat would need on an asteroid. Some of the basic subsystems include: structure to provide support and protection, electrical power to provide energy to all the equipment need to run the space station and extract volatiles to create fuel, thermal control to control the temperature of the both the inhabitants and fuel, robotics and automation computing to help extract the violates for fuel without the need for human manual labor, environmental and life support to provide the adequate oxygen and water to keep the them alive, and orbital navigation & propulsion to ensure both the space station and asteroid do not alter their orbit. Even more challenges will await engineers for establishing a space habitat on another celestial body, but like any human endeavor we have always meet the challenge. However, for the sake of time and money our team will utilities the ISS.
Earth Mining Analog
Mining has been around for hundreds of years that before involved a lot of manpower and resources. Today, with the help of technology, mining has become much more sophisticated and efficient. Currently mining involves the use of heavy machinery that can extract minerals from both the surface and underground. One must consider before beginning mining operations what type of mining is needed to reach a specific ore. Underground mining is achieved by sinking shafts and making horizontal tunnels to reach the ore. Underground mining is very expensive and is only used to reach rich ore. Such machines used to drill underground may involve a tunnel boring machine. Open pit mining is used to extract low grade ore without expensive operational cost. These very same techniques can be applied for asteroid mining with some modifications.
When mining here on Earth the force of gravity keeps minerals in place however, in space micro-gravity causes all matter to react to any force set upon without the restraining force of gravity. This could present a problem when extracting resources from an asteroid. The escape velocity of small asteroids may be as little as 0.2 m/s
When mining on an asteroids surface one must require an approach that encloses the regolith being collected by clamshell grab, an enclosed screw conveyor, or an enclosed drag chain conveyor. Another possibility is to mine underground. Mining underground has advantages over surface mining in that it is easier to generate reaction forces for cutting, drilling, or digging. The surface layer may be depleted in the desired material, it may be easier to contain the cut or released material, and finally the resulting volume may itself be used for storage.
From our studies and research, we concluded to mine an asteroid the following must be accomplished: the spacecraft must be tied down with rope passing around the entire asteroid. Pitons must be driven into the celestial object, harpoons or penetrators must be fired to resist extraction, screw in large area augers or screw plates, weld tie-down into massive clasts or metal, ice, or solid silicate rock. Large area fluked anchors must be used, and lastly burrow completely into the regolith. While for our project we are only focusing on volatiles we also have the potential to extract precious metals.
Precious Metals and Earth’s Economy
Extracting precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, silicon, etc. will provide great wealth to any company that invests the mining operation. Some metals value increases due to unforeseen circumstances. Metals like gold and silver experience a huge spike in price from 2008 to 2012 by 207% and silver by 250%. However, other metals like platinum experience a decrease by 40% in just one year from 2008 thru 2009. If asteroid mining begins to extract such precious metals one must be careful about flooding the market and causing the value to drop rapidly.
Sources
- Ross, Shane D. Near-Earth Asteroid Mining, Space Industry Report 107-81, December 14, 2011. 1-24.
- Sellers, Jerry, and Astore, William, and Giffen, Robert, and Larson, Wiley. Understanding Space: An Introduction to Astronautics 3rd, 2005.
- Duncan, Ian. “Big, Bigger, Biggest: Space Station.” Youtube, 8 September 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCFOPOu5df8.