3 ms·

Low gravity (e.g. the moon) and zero gravity environments could have manufacturing advantages that are used to create projects that are shipped to earth.

TeMPOraL 9y ago
In the longer term, yes; right now, nothing game-changing on the horizon. The best example would be the work of Made In Space[0]. They've started manufacturing optical fiber on the ISS, where they can reach much greater medium purity than what one can do on Earth. It can, in principle, make fiber optics installations cheaper (less need for repeaters along the way), but the savings are entirely eaten by launch costs (and lack of economies of scale). The primary output of asteroid mining and space manufacturing will naturally be utilized in space, because we need to bootstrap a pretty large and self-sustaining economy to be able to profitably ship useful quantities of useful stuff downwell. -- [0] - http://madeinspace.us/mis-fiber/ http://madeinspace.us/mis-fiber/
le-mark 9y ago
Low or zero gravity can also be a hindrance; how do you mine an asteroid if every wack of the pickaxe also propels you away from said asteroid? Clearly asteroids won't be mined with pickaxes, this is an illustration that gravity is in fact critical for all known terrestrial manufacturing processes! When considered in this light, shallow gravity wells like the moon or mars, which are cheaper to access from a delta-v perspective are actually super important. Also, O'neil type cylinder habitats (which I think Bezos favors) are a suitable alternative.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  Yup. Zero-g introduces absurd amounts of challenges, only showing just how much everything we've learned over past couple thousand years is dependent on living at the bottom of a gravity well. For those curious about asteroid mining per se, there are plenty of ideas being prototyped right now - including the more obvious ones like two-part drills spinning in opposite direction, and the less obvious ones like using concentrated sunlight to heat up the asteroid and collecting the matter that outgasses from the hot spot.
  - le-mark 9y ago
    My pet theory: Giant kevlar bag, surround asteroid, embed explosives, pulverize, cinch bag tight: bag-o-gravel :D
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      Change "embedded explosives" to the concentrated solar light I mentioned, and you've essentially described a mission proposal that I've seen in a NASA report. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/eso_final_report.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/eso_fin... Scroll to page 11 for a picture.

TeMPOraL 9y ago

In the longer term, yes; right now, nothing game-changing on the horizon. The best example would be the work of Made In Space[0]. They've started manufacturing optical fiber on the ISS, where they can reach much greater medium purity than what one can do on Earth. It can, in principle, make fiber optics installations cheaper (less need for repeaters along the way), but the savings are entirely eaten by launch costs (and lack of economies of scale). The primary output of asteroid mining and space manufacturing will naturally be utilized in space, because we need to bootstrap a pretty large and self-sustaining economy to be able to profitably ship useful quantities of useful stuff downwell. -- [0] - http://madeinspace.us/mis-fiber/ http://madeinspace.us/mis-fiber/

le-mark 9y ago

Low or zero gravity can also be a hindrance; how do you mine an asteroid if every wack of the pickaxe also propels you away from said asteroid? Clearly asteroids won't be mined with pickaxes, this is an illustration that gravity is in fact critical for all known terrestrial manufacturing processes! When considered in this light, shallow gravity wells like the moon or mars, which are cheaper to access from a delta-v perspective are actually super important. Also, O'neil type cylinder habitats (which I think Bezos favors) are a suitable alternative.

TeMPOraL 9y ago
Yup. Zero-g introduces absurd amounts of challenges, only showing just how much everything we've learned over past couple thousand years is dependent on living at the bottom of a gravity well. For those curious about asteroid mining per se, there are plenty of ideas being prototyped right now - including the more obvious ones like two-part drills spinning in opposite direction, and the less obvious ones like using concentrated sunlight to heat up the asteroid and collecting the matter that outgasses from the hot spot.
- le-mark 9y ago
  My pet theory: Giant kevlar bag, surround asteroid, embed explosives, pulverize, cinch bag tight: bag-o-gravel :D
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Change "embedded explosives" to the concentrated solar light I mentioned, and you've essentially described a mission proposal that I've seen in a NASA report. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/eso_final_report.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/eso_fin... Scroll to page 11 for a picture.