Deep Space Industries, a newly formed company, announced plans to launch the world's first fleet of asteroid-hunting
spacecraft to search for space rocks that can be harvested for precious
metals such as platinum and other resources. The one-way prospecting
trips will begin in 2015, using three laptop-size spacecraft called
FireFlies, each weighing about 55 pounds, that will take pictures and
samples from selected Near-Earth asteroids.
Beginning in 2016, larger spacecraft known as DragonFlies, weighing 70
lbs, will be sent on three- to four-year round trip missions to dig
samples from asteroids and return them to Earth. The company estimates
that 1 ton of asteroid material would be worth $1 million in orbit.
The samples will be studied and tested to make sure they can be conveted
into valuable materials. By 2020, Deep Space hopes to get into
commercial operation and begin producing materials to be used first in
space. For example, water harvested from asteroids can be broken down to
make rocket fuel to power communication satellites. Low-cost
asteroid-derived fuel will extend the working lifetime of these
technologies. For each satellite, one extra month is worth $5 million to
$8 million.
Deep Space will also rely on a 3D printer called the Microgravity
Foundry to help manufacture metal parts in space from pure asteroid. The
machine can print high-strength nickel parts on demand, even in zero
gravity. The printer can can take its own parts, grind them up, and
recycle them into new parts, said Stephen Covey, a co-founder of DSI and inventor of the process.
The device can print heavy, massive tools in space, which can then be used in the manufacturing of space habitats,
platforms and satellites. “Using resources harvested in space is the
only way to afford permanent space development,” CEO David Gump said.
“More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every
year. They can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit
car industry last century – a key resource located near where it was
needed. In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the
in-space industries of this century. That is our strategy.”
Source: The Daily Galaxy via Deep Space Industries
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario