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I really like this site. How much do I like this site? Well, before clicking on it, I said to myself, "I wonder where Davida ranks?" (query the list of most v
by FiatLuxDave 12y ago
I really like this site. How much do I like this site? Well, before clicking on it, I said to myself, "I wonder where Davida ranks?" (query the list of most valuable). So, yeah, I've thought about this subject a lot, and I really appreciate this beautiful website which presents all this data in an easily readable way.
In the spirit of constructive criticism, I would suggest the following changes which might make the site more useful for people like me who run calculations on asteroid mining for fun:
1) Make the formulas for value and cost explicit somewhere easily found on the site. Maybe it's there somewhere, but I can't find it.
2) Make it possible to alter the variables to allow exploring different scenarios. For example, the cost in $/(km/s) of delta-v depends upon the technology used. Maybe have different selections (chemical rockets, nuclear rockets, solar sail, cool unknown technology, magic fairy asteroid whales) which have different costs associated with them. This would change the rankings of which asteroids would be more profitable, since high metal asteroids with a high delta V cost are more profitable if more accessible. The opposite effect occurs if there is a technology which lowers mining and processing costs (such as directed solar heating and in-situ smelting). It would be nice to tweak that cost too. Being able to change technology scenarios makes this site much more fun.
3) Show some estimate of ore concentration. Yeah, I know the data isn't exactly definitive. Spectra don't give you good information on internals. But an estimate is being used in there somewhere, it would be interesting to show it, especially if it could be compared with earthling ores.