Mining In Space Essay, Research Paper

Mining in SpaceOn December 10, 1986 the Greater New York Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics ( AIAA ) and the technology subdivision of the New York Academy of Sciences jointly presented a plan on mining the planets. Speakers were Greg Maryniak of the Space Studies Institute ( SSI ) and Dr. Carl Peterson of the Mining and Excavation Research Institute of M.I.T. Maryniak spoke foremost and began by noticing that the quintessential quandary of infinite flight is that everything launched from Earth must be accelerated to orbital speed. Related to this is that the traditional manner to make things in infinite has been to fabricate them on Earth and so establish them into orbit aboard big projectiles. The trouble with this attack is the immense cost-per-pound of hiking anything out of this planet & # 8217 ; s gravitation good. Furthermore, Maryniak noted, since ( at least in the close to medium term ) the infinite plan must depend upon the authorities for most of its support, for this economic drawback needfully translates into a political job. Maryniak continued by observing that the early colonists in North America did non try to transport across the Atlantic everything so needed to prolong them in the New World. Rather they brought their tools with them and constructed their home grounds from local stuffs. Hence, he suggested that the solution to the quandary to which he referred required non so much a displacement in engineering as a displacement in thought. Space, he argued, should be considered non as a vacuity, wholly barren of everything. Rather, it should be regarded as an ocean, that is, a hostile environment but one holding resources. Among the resources of infinite, he suggested, are readily available solar power and possible surface mines on the Moon and subsequently other heavenly organic structures as good. The Moon, Maryniak stated, contains many utile stuffs. Furthermore, it is 22 times easier to speed up a warhead to lunar flight speed than it is to speed up the indistinguishable mass out of the EarthUs gravitation good. As a practical affair the advantage in footings of the energy required is even greater because of the absence of a lunar atmosphere. Among other things this permits the usage of devices such as electromagnetic gas pedals ( mass drivers ) to establish warheads from the MoonUs surface. Even natural Lunar dirt is utile as screening for infinite Stationss and other infinite home grounds. At present, he noted, exposure to radiation will forestall anyone for passing a sum of more than six months out of his or her full life-time on the infinite station. At the other terminal of the graduated table, Lunar dirt can be processed into its constitutional stuffs. In between stairss are besides of great involvement. For illustration, the MoonUs dirt is rich in O, which makes up most of the mass of H2O and projectile propellent. This O could be RcookedS out of the Lunar dirt. Since most of the mass of the equipment which would be necessary to carry through this would dwell of comparatively low engineering hardware, Maryniak suggested the possibility that at least in the longer term the extraction works itself could be manufactured mostly on the Moon. Another possibility presently being examined is the industry of glass from Lunar dirt and utilizing it as building stuff. The techniques involved, harmonizing to Maryniak, are rough but effectual. ( In reply to a inquiry posed by a member of the audience after the formal presentation, Maryniak stated that he believed the brickle belongingss of glass could be overcome by utilizing glass-glass complexs. He besides suggested yet another possibility, that of utilizing Lunar dirt as a footing of concrete. ) One possible application of such Moon-made glass would be in glass-glass composite beams. Among other things, these could be employed as structural elements in a solar power orbiter ( SPS ) . While involvement in the SPS has waned in this state, at least temporarily, it is a major focal point of attending in the U.S.S. R. , Western Europe and Japan. In peculiar, the Soviets have stated that they will construct an SPS by the twelvemonth 2000 ( although they plan on utilizing Earth launched stuffs. Similarly the Japanese are carry oning SPS related sounding projectile trials. SSI surveies have suggested that more than 90 % , and possibly every bit much as 99 % of the mass of an SPS can be constructed out of Lunar stuffs. Harmonizing to Maryniak, a just sum of work has already been performed on the layout of Lunar mines and how to divide stuffs on the Moon. Different techniques from those employed on Earth must be used because of the absence of H2O on the Moon. On the other manus, Lunar stuffs treating can affect the usage of self-replicating mills. Such a process may be able to bring forth a alleged Rmass payback ratioS of 500 to 1. That is, the mass of the mills which can be established by this method will be 500 times the mass of the original RseedS works emplaced on the Moon. Maryniak besides discussed the excavation of asteroids utilizing mass-driver engines, a technique which SSI has long advocated. Basically this would imply a ballistic capsule capturing either a ample fragment of a big asteroid or sooner an full little asteroid. The ballistic capsule would be equipped with machinery to pull out minerals and other utile stuffs from the asteroidal mass. The scoria or other waste merchandises generated in this procedure would be reduced to finely powdered signifier and accelerated by a mass driver in order to impel the captured asteroid into an orbit about Earth. If the Earth has alleged Trojan asteroids, as does Jupiter, the energy required to convey stuffs from them to low Earth orbit ( LEO ) would be merely 1 % every bit great as that required to establish the same sum of mass from Earth. ( Once once more, furthermore, the fact that more economical agencies of propulsion can be used for orbital transportations than for speed uping stuff to orbital speed would probably do the practical advantages even greater. ) However, Maryniak noted that observations already performed have ruled out any Earth-Trojan organic structures larger than one stat mi in diameter. In add-on to the antecedently mentioned SPS, another possible usage for stuffs mined from planets would be in the

building of infinite settlements. In this connexion Maryniak noted that a so-cal

led biosphere was presently being constructed outside of Tucson, Arizona. When it is completed eight people will inhabit it for two years entirely sealed off from the outside world. One of the objectives of this experiment will be to prove the concept of long-duration closed cycle life support systems. As the foregoing illustrates, MaryniakUs primary focus was upon mining the planets as a source for materials to use in space. Dr. PetersonUs principal interest, on the other hand, was the potential application of techniques and equipment developed for use on the Moon and the asteroids to the mining industry here on Earth. Dr Peterson began his presentation by noting that the U. S. mining industry was in very poor condition. In particular, it has been criticized for using what has been described as Rneanderthal technology. S Dr. Peterson clearly implied that such criticism is justified, noting that the sooner or later the philosophy of not doing what you canUt make money on today will come back to haunt people. A possible solution to this problem, Dr. Peterson, suggested, is a marriage between mining and aerospace. (As an aside, Dr. PetersonUs admonition would appear to be as applicable to the space program as it is to the mining industry, and especially to the reluctance of both the government and the private sector to fund long-lead time space projects. The current problems NASA is having getting funding for the space station approved by Congress and the failure begin now to implement the recommendations of the National Commission on Space particularly come to mind.) Part of the mining industryUs difficulty, according to Dr. Peterson is that is represents a rather small market. This tends to discourage long range research. The result is to produce on the one hand brilliant solutions to individual, immediate problems, but on the other hand overall systems of incredible complexity. This complexity, which according to Dr. Peterson has now reached intolerable levels, results from the fact that mining machinery evolves one step at a time and thus is subject to the restriction that each new subsystem has to be compatible with all of the other parts of the system that have not changed. Using slides to illustrate his point, Dr. Peterson noted that so-called RcontinuousS coal mining machines can in fact operate only 50% of the time. The machine must stop when the shuttle car, which removes the coal, is full. The shuttle cars, moreover, have to stay out of each others way. Furthermore, not only are Earthbound mining machines too heavy to take into space, they are rapidly becoming too heavy to take into mines on Earth. When humanity begins to colonize the Moon, Dr. Peterson asserted, it will eventually prove necessary to go below the surface for the construction of habitats, even if the extraction of Lunar materials can be restricted to surface mining operations. As a result, the same problems currently plaguing Earthbound mining will be encountered. This is where Earth and Moon mining can converge. Since Moon mining will start from square one, Dr. Peterson implied, systems can be designed as a whole rather than piecemeal. By the same token, for the reasons mentioned there is a need in the case of Earthbound mining machinery to back up and look at systems as a whole. What is required, therefore, is a research program aimed at developing technology that will be useful on the Moon but pending development of Lunar mining operations can also be used down here on Earth. In particular, the mining industry on Earth is inhibited by overly complex equipment unsuited to todayUs opportunities in remote control and automation. It needs machines simple enough to take advantage of tele-operation and automation. The same needs exist with respect to the Moon. Therefore the mining institute hopes to raise enough funds for sustained research in mining techniques useful both on Earth and on other celestial bodies as well. In this last connection, Dr. Peterson noted that the mining industry is subject to the same problem as the aerospace industry: Congress is reluctant to fund long range research. In addition, the mining industry has a problem of its own in that because individual companies are highly competitive research results are generally not shared. Dr. Peterson acknowledged, however, that there are differences between mining on Earth and mining on other planetary bodies. The most important is the one already mentioned-heavy equipment cannot be used in space. This will mean additional problems for space miners. Unlike space vacuum, rock does not provide a predictable environment. Furthermore, the constraint in mining is not energy requirements, but force requirements. Rock requires heavy forces to move. In other words, one reason earthbound mining equipment is heavy is that it breaks. This brute force method, however, cannot be used in space. Entirely aside from weight limitations, heavy forces cannot be generated on the Moon and especially on asteroids, because lower gravity means less traction. NASA has done some research on certain details of this problem, but there is a need for fundamental thinking about how to avoid using big forces. One solution, although it would be limited to surface mining, is the slusher-scoop. This device scoops up material in a bucket dragged across the surface by cables and a winch. One obvious advantage of this method is that it by passes low gravity traction problems. Slushers are already in use here on Earth. According to Peterson, the device was invented by a person named Pat Farell. Farell was, Peterson stated, a very innovative mining engineer partly because be did not attend college and therefore did not learn what couldnUt be done. Some possible alternatives to the use of big forces were discussed during the question period that followed the formal presentations. One was the so called laser cutter. This, Peterson indicated, is a potential solution if power problems can be overcome. It does a good job and leaves behind a vitrified tube in the rock. Another possibility is fusion pellets, which create shock waves by impact. On the other hand, nuclear charges are not practical. Aside from considerations generated by treaties banning the presence of nuclear weapons in space, they would throw material too far in a low gravity environment.