The private space company 'Deep Space Industries' (DSI) has announced its plan to fly a spacecraft for the first time in human history whose mission will be commercial interstellar mining
[Translation by Dr. Nachmani Moshe]
The private space company 'Deep Space Industries' (DSI) has announced its plan to fly for the first time ever in human history a spacecraft whose mission will be commercial interstellar mining.
The spacecraft, named Prospector-1, will fly and encounter a near-Earth asteroid in its orbit, and will study the object in order to determine its commercial value as a source of space resources. This mission is an important step forward in the company's plan to exploit and provide interstellar resources to support the growing space economy. "Deep Space Industries has worked diligently to get to this point, and now we can say with confidence that we have the right technology, the right team, and the right plan to accomplish this historic mission," said Rick Tomlinson, the company's chairman and founder.
"Building on our Prospector-X space mission, the Prospector-1 spacecraft will be the next step in our quest to exploit the resources stored within asteroids." Recently, the company and its partner, the Luxembourg government, announced plans to build and fly Prospector-X, a low-satellite test mission that will test the key technologies required for inexpensive exploration spacecraft. The mission itself is planned to begin in 2017. In the next step, even before the end of the current decade, Prospector-1 will fly beyond Earth's orbit and begin the first mining mission in space.
"We are developing the Prospector-1 spacecraft also as part of our ambitions in the field of asteroid mining, but also to contribute to the commercial market an extremely cheap and still high-performance research spacecraft. The flexible and sturdy platform at the base of the spacecraft's design will make it the cheapest and most common tool in the field of space exploration." The spacecraft itself weighs only 50 kg (when fully fueled) and is a perfect balance between price and performance. In addition to the payload and control systems that are resistant to radiation, all of the company's spacecraft utilize the Comet water propulsion system that emits superheated water vapor to create thrust. Water will be the first product to be mined on an asteroid, so the ability to use it as a propellant will provide the company's future spacecraft with the ability to fuel themselves while in space.
"During the next decade, we will begin to exploit space resources from within the asteroids," said the company's CEO. "We are changing the form of business activity in space, from a situation where our customers carry all their needs inside the spaceship to a new situation where the required supply is waiting for them at the place they arrive at." The target asteroid will be determined from a pool of candidates selected by a team of world-renowned asteroid experts working in partnership with the private company. Once the spacecraft reaches its target asteroid, it will begin mapping its surface, taking visual and infrared images, in addition to mapping the total water content inside the asteroid down to a depth of one meter. When this phase is finished, the spacecraft will use the same water mined from the asteroid in an attempt to land on the asteroid and measure its geophysical and geotechnical characteristics. "The ability to locate, reach and analyze sources rich in resources in the vastness of space is a critical ability for our plans," explains the CEO. "The meaning is not only to look at the target, but also to make contact with it."
Along with private missions already in development, such as clusters of tiny satellites being built by the company for the HawkEye 360 project, the Prospector missions demonstrated its simple, low-cost, high-performance approach to space exploration. The platform of the Prospector spacecraft is now available to both countries and private companies interested in the development of advanced and low-cost space exploration missions. "Prospector-1 is not only the first commercial interplanetary mission, but it is also an important milestone in our journey to expand the frontiers of space," says the CEO.
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Well, I see that I missed this part of the article:
"In addition to the payload and control systems that are resistant to radiation, all of the company's spacecraft utilize the Comet water propulsion system that emits superheated water vapor to create thrust."
First time I'm hearing about this idea, we'll check YouTube to see a simulation of it.
A',
Are you saying that they are proposing a new type of engine for spaceships that will emit boiling water steam to propel the spaceship forward? I have never heard of such a thing, I thought the intention was to separate the hydrogen from the water molecules and use the resulting hydrogen as rocket fuel.
Oh, I was stupid, she wrote that it was cynical
It's just late.
0
rival
It is not possible what you said, to separate water and reconnect and get more energy.
Or it was sarcasm and I didn't understand.
Space lacks not only energy. Energy can actually be obtained from solar panels. The problem is that no matter how much electrical energy you have, you won't be able to create movement for the spaceship if you don't have something to "push". According to the law of conservation of momentum you
There are several solutions to this problem such as the slingshot effect, the use of solar sails, a laser beam from the Earth, etc.
Here it is suggested to collect water during the journey from the asteroids and use it to create an impulse and not as a source of energy. Of course, there will also be a need for an energy source to heat the water, it could be solar energy or a small nuclear reactor or something else as you imagine
Can someone explain to me the part about turning water into fuel? I didn't know that we already have a technology that makes it possible to separate hydrogen from the water molecules in a process that consumes less energy than what will be obtained from the fuel that will be created.
And if such technology already exists, does this mean that we will soon see cars, planes and ships fueled by water instead of fuel? Is the age of oil over?
This is basically a cynical question, but I would appreciate an explanation.
A,
Yes, there is a lot of information missing here in the article about the next steps. After also reading the source in English, I came to the conclusion that there are two possibilities: one is that they only talk about the first stage of mining, which is actually finding the resources for mining and mapping, and they don't actually have any technological innovation regarding extracting the resource and transporting it to any destination. The second possibility is that they have plans for the next steps but for one reason or another they are not announcing them at the moment.
The only resource mentioned here is water from the asteroids, which will also be used as fuel for the propulsion system. Since the mission of the satellite is to check and map the resources in the asteroids, you can understand that it is not yet known what resources are in each asteroid and if they are worth mining.
In short, the technology is still immature, and they are probably looking for funding to continue the development.
The points that are important here are:
1. They managed to produce a satellite that would be able to reach asteroids at a reduced cost from the standard cost.
2. The satellite can use water for propulsion, which is a resource found on asteroids.
3. The satellite can perform the first stage of mining, which is finding and mapping the resources in the asteroids.
Adi, I see you've gotten ahead of me, I'm also missing basic details like how the mining is supposed to be done? What amount of minerals (ie how many kilograms) is the spacecraft supposed to bring back to Earth? And how exactly should this be done in practice? Too many details about the surroundings and no information about the whole.
Once again a delusional plan...
It is very nice that within a decade they will reach the asteroid and mine it for minerals and bring them back to Earth. And just one small question I ask, how will they do it? Developing a vehicle (rocket) that will take objects out of the Earth is a very expensive task,
In the meantime, only one private company managed to do this (SPACE-X) with heavy financial backing from a rich sister company (PAY-PAL) to mine minerals and bring them to Israel and also to leave the earth's gravity to the space of the solar system and also a rocket that can return the goods to the earth Without burning. Deploy a much larger launch vehicle. And even SPACE-X doesn't have that... so again I ask how exactly will they do it?
And it reminds me of an old anecdote about that one who came to the board of an air industry and said he had a plan for a plane that would fly at Mach 5, for a distance of 10000 km, that would carry bombs weighing 20 tons and that would consume very little fuel. The board members were intrigued and said to him: Will you show us the plans for this plane? The man told them "This is my idea, for plans for the plane, you have engineers, they will design this plane..."
The title talked about "mining"
That is, the goal is to perform mining. Even with not in the first stage. And I ask what materials?
Or do you mean all mining is for use while traveling.
In any case, you also write "although these will be extremely valuable" which materials are you talking about? Is there even such a material that is so expensive and useful that it would be worth bringing it from space? I think I once heard of Helium 3 or something like that but I really didn't understand what it was or what to do with it.
If anyone knows how to answer one of the questions, I would appreciate it
A,
You didn't get the point. The goal of the project is not to find exotic materials in space (although these would be extremely valuable), but to lower the price of space travel and research. Each additional kg in the payload of a space rocket costs a lot of money, and takes up limited space that could be used for other purposes. Depending on the route and the form of launch, but 1 kg can cost between 4,500 and 11,000 USD.
In addition, we are thinking about the future, when and if there are colonies near the Earth, they will not have to rely on supplies from Earth as far as certain materials that can be mined from the asteroids are concerned.
The question that needs to be raised is, once they have mapped all the asteroids and their potential, how exactly is the material mined from the asteroid, and how is it processed for the various needs in space?
The whole article I was waiting to read what they even want to take from the poor asteroid that does not exist on Earth. Except for water, which is actually enough here.
There is no word on what materials they want to bring from there and why.
The question is over
Aren't asteroids mostly made of rock, iron and ice?
What is the advantage of mining these space materials?
rousing. The beginning of the galactic expansion.
The science fiction I read as a child materializes in front of me as an adult.