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I wonder how they going to deal with radiation in space? All these asteroids are not protected by magnetic field as Earth, so they must be radioactive.

astine 14y ago
Probably the same way they've been dealing with it so far. Send robots and shield any sensitive components.
- Intermediate 14y ago
  What components you are talking about? They are going to mine asteroids, these asteroids are must be radioactive. So any resource taken from that asteroids must be radioactive too.
  - mahyarm 14y ago
    Electronics, CPUs, etc. The drill not so much.
  - idonthack 14y ago
    You are absorbing more radiation from your computer monitor than you would get from an asteroid. The real danger is being unshielded from the sun's radiation due to the lack of a protective magnetic field. This is easily solved by radiation shielding in the spacecraft, or tunneling underground once established on the asteroid.
  - astine 14y ago
    Oh, you mean the payload. I'm not sure but I don't see why we couldn't quarantine that for a while and sit on it. I take it we've gotten other space rocks including meteorites and moon rocks. They haven't caused us much trouble so I don't see why an asteroid would be worse on that front. Then again, I'm no astrophysicist.
  - Retric 14y ago
    Radiation does not work the way you think it does. Just about everything is slightly radioactive so saying something is radioactive is next to meaningless, it's a question of scale with some things being 1,000,000,000 times as radioactive as other things even though they are both 'safe'. The surface of an asteroid is probably be slightly more radioactive than average but they are planing on minding 100-500meter wide objects the vast majority of which are shielded by the ice and rock above them. PS: Technically even 'pure' vacuum is slightly radioactive.
  - daniel-cussen 14y ago
    Ah, there's ways of dealing with that. Copper mines in Australia, for instance, often have trace uranium they have to deal with before they can sell it, and there are ways of dealing with this. It's easy to separate different elements, especially given the difference in density, and though it's usually harder to separate isotopes (U-238 and U-235 being the famous example) it really depends on the metal you're talking about. In addition, enriching uranium is a problem because nobody wants to help you do it, but with most other metals, everyone's cool, and would be happy to sell you that service. Keep in mind not all radioactive sources are created equal--every atom is different, and every isotope is different. Iron and nickel, for instance, are extremely stable and can be irradiated without serious consequences--unlike cobalt or gold, which can be added to a bomb to make it dirty. So, because the bulk of the asteroid is very stable, and the remainder of it very precious, I would expect dealing with the radiation not to be a problem. The precious metals may in fact be somewhat irradiated, but then this is not waste--radioactive isotopes of many different metals see a lot of use in industry and medicine.
mikeash 14y ago
Only certain types of radiation can activate other materials, and I don't think the sort of radiation you find in space is that type.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
Radiation isn't as big a problem if all the mining operations are completely automated, which appears to be their plan. Also, your assumption that the material of the asteroids themselves must be radioactive is erroneous, that is not the case.

astine 14y ago

Probably the same way they've been dealing with it so far. Send robots and shield any sensitive components.

Intermediate 14y ago
What components you are talking about? They are going to mine asteroids, these asteroids are must be radioactive. So any resource taken from that asteroids must be radioactive too.
- mahyarm 14y ago
  Electronics, CPUs, etc. The drill not so much.
- idonthack 14y ago
  You are absorbing more radiation from your computer monitor than you would get from an asteroid. The real danger is being unshielded from the sun's radiation due to the lack of a protective magnetic field. This is easily solved by radiation shielding in the spacecraft, or tunneling underground once established on the asteroid.
- astine 14y ago
  Oh, you mean the payload. I'm not sure but I don't see why we couldn't quarantine that for a while and sit on it. I take it we've gotten other space rocks including meteorites and moon rocks. They haven't caused us much trouble so I don't see why an asteroid would be worse on that front. Then again, I'm no astrophysicist.
- Retric 14y ago
  Radiation does not work the way you think it does. Just about everything is slightly radioactive so saying something is radioactive is next to meaningless, it's a question of scale with some things being 1,000,000,000 times as radioactive as other things even though they are both 'safe'. The surface of an asteroid is probably be slightly more radioactive than average but they are planing on minding 100-500meter wide objects the vast majority of which are shielded by the ice and rock above them. PS: Technically even 'pure' vacuum is slightly radioactive.
- daniel-cussen 14y ago
  Ah, there's ways of dealing with that. Copper mines in Australia, for instance, often have trace uranium they have to deal with before they can sell it, and there are ways of dealing with this. It's easy to separate different elements, especially given the difference in density, and though it's usually harder to separate isotopes (U-238 and U-235 being the famous example) it really depends on the metal you're talking about. In addition, enriching uranium is a problem because nobody wants to help you do it, but with most other metals, everyone's cool, and would be happy to sell you that service. Keep in mind not all radioactive sources are created equal--every atom is different, and every isotope is different. Iron and nickel, for instance, are extremely stable and can be irradiated without serious consequences--unlike cobalt or gold, which can be added to a bomb to make it dirty. So, because the bulk of the asteroid is very stable, and the remainder of it very precious, I would expect dealing with the radiation not to be a problem. The precious metals may in fact be somewhat irradiated, but then this is not waste--radioactive isotopes of many different metals see a lot of use in industry and medicine.

mikeash 14y ago

Only certain types of radiation can activate other materials, and I don't think the sort of radiation you find in space is that type.

InclinedPlane 14y ago

Radiation isn't as big a problem if all the mining operations are completely automated, which appears to be their plan. Also, your assumption that the material of the asteroids themselves must be radioactive is erroneous, that is not the case.