Asteroid Commons

Exploring the economic development of asteroid resources for people on Earth and beyond.

Summary

Asteroids are both ubiquitous and elusive. Just as the sun taunts us with her vast source of energy, asteroids taunt us with their seemingly limitless supply of natural resources. When asteroid mining is something that is solved as a collective initiative, we shouldn’t think about it as a venture that can bring a small number of individuals or investors profit, but instead something that can reduce the cost of living on Earth and cost of space travel for all of humanity. The price of precious metals mined from asteroids would decrease on Earth if we are able to bring back massive quantities in a cost-effective manner. If the asteroid mining missions become highly automated, this will allow us to expedite post-scarcity on Earth. Additionally, utilizing in-situ resources for water and fuel production will also decrease the cost of space travel, making it increasingly accessible for more civilians.

Through our Asteroid Commons program we aim to design and develop solutions that will:
- Allow us to become more knowledgeable about the asteroids within reach
- Allow us to extract resources from asteroids for use in space and on Earth
- Aid in the mediation when two or more competing organizations aim to prospect or mine the same asteroid

Projects

Solar Regatta

Researching the potential of solar sail technology for use in the exploration, prospecting, and mining of asteroids.

Discussion

Asteroid Mining Vehicle

This post is to discuss the technology behind an asteroid mining vehicle. Some points to ponder: How will the craft securely attach itself to the asteroid once it gets there? What about movement on the asteroid? What types of tooling is needed to drill into an asteroid of X makeup? How will asteroid drill cores be harvested? Where will asteroid cores be processed? How will asteroid cores be processed and metals seperated?