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Luxembourg Announces New Asteroid Mining Spacecraft: Prospector-X



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 5th 16, 09:21 PM posted to sci.space.policy
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Posts: 687
Default Luxembourg Announces New Asteroid Mining Spacecraft: Prospector-X

"Asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries in partnership with the Luxembourg
government's asteroid mining initiative Space Resources announced today that they
would soon send a spacecraft into orbit to test some of the technology needed to
extract resources like water or minerals from asteroids."

See:

http://www.popsci.com/luxembourg-ann...ech-experiment
  #2  
Old May 6th 16, 03:37 AM posted to sci.space.policy
William Mook[_2_]
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Posts: 3,840
Default Luxembourg Announces New Asteroid Mining Spacecraft: Prospector-X

On Friday, May 6, 2016 at 8:21:12 AM UTC+12, wrote:
"Asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries in partnership with the Luxembourg
government's asteroid mining initiative Space Resources announced today that they
would soon send a spacecraft into orbit to test some of the technology needed to
extract resources like water or minerals from asteroids."

See:

http://www.popsci.com/luxembourg-ann...ech-experiment


The electrothermal engine is based on inkjet nozzles apparently. It produces 3.3 milli-Newtons per nozzle, and has a specific impulse of 200 seconds. That's 1.96 km/sec exhaust speed. The engine weighs 350 grams and carries 300 grams of water while consuming up to 10 Watts.

https://deepspaceindustries.com/wp-c...r-Thruster.pdf

  #3  
Old May 6th 16, 07:22 AM posted to sci.space.policy
William Mook[_2_]
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Posts: 3,840
Default Luxembourg Announces New Asteroid Mining Spacecraft: Prospector-X

On Friday, May 6, 2016 at 2:37:35 PM UTC+12, William Mook wrote:
On Friday, May 6, 2016 at 8:21:12 AM UTC+12, wrote:
"Asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries in partnership with the Luxembourg
government's asteroid mining initiative Space Resources announced today that they
would soon send a spacecraft into orbit to test some of the technology needed to
extract resources like water or minerals from asteroids."

See:

http://www.popsci.com/luxembourg-ann...ech-experiment


The electrothermal engine is based on inkjet nozzles apparently. It produces 3.3 milli-Newtons per nozzle, and has a specific impulse of 200 seconds. That's 1.96 km/sec exhaust speed. The engine weighs 350 grams and carries 300 grams of water while consuming up to 10 Watts.

https://deepspaceindustries.com/wp-c...r-Thruster.pdf


Electrothermal systems are not as capable as Electrospray systems - which can achieve 30 km/sec exhaust speeds, but at greatly reduced thrust because of that;

http://lmts.epfl.ch/MEMS-ion-source

Also, their solar power system is constrained to produce no more than 300 Watts/ kg, whilst more advanced systems based on concentrating optics achieve up to 30,000 Watts/kg!

http://www.lgarde.com/assets/content...ons/concen.pdf

So, a system that produces 300 Watts/kg with a 2 km/sec exhaust produces 0.6247 Newtons per kg That's 63.7 milligees. The system outlined here.

A system that produces 30,000 Watts/kg with a 30 km/sec exhaust produces 2 Newtons per kg of satellite weight. That's 203.9 milligees. That's 3.2x the thrust!

Electrospray by reducing exhaust speeds, which is easily achievable with electrospray systems, thrust may be increased for a power constrained system! For example, reducing exhaust speeds to 12 km/sec a force of 12.5 Newtons may be produced or kg of weight, yeilding 1.27 gees! Enough to land and return from the surface of the moon or Mars.

Electrospray may also be used to break down *anything* passed through it, and used to create a time of flight mass spectrometer.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/...nalCode=ancham

So, this creates a very simple system that can be used to process rock down to the elemental level, and in the vacuum of space, isolate materials, coating them on to a return aeroshell - and then using a stream of low value ions to push the aeroshell onto a collision course with Earth.

Think about a MEMS based DLP system that projects high resolution images across a room onto a screen. A similar system, made of an array of solar powered electrospray elements, can be used as a rocket as described, it can be used to ionise any object and spray it so that desired elements are selected, it can be used to create a stream of ions that push objects around very accurately based on their properties.

Just like sorting Skittles by colour (but much quicker!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ08XF634w4


There are plenty of Near Earth Objects approaching every month! On June 10, 2016 there is one 35396 (1997 XF11) It will pass within 0.18 AU of Earth and its 1.1 km by 2.5 km - pretty big! Its moving at 9.77 km/sec. Now, put into the right orbit, a satellite is already moving 7.9 km/sec. So, the minimum delta vee needed to achieve this hyperbolic excess velocity is 6.95 km/sec. Using an 30 km/sec electrospray nozzle, 21% of the satellite's mass must be propellant to match the asteroid's orbit.

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=35396;orb=1

It rotates once every 3.259 hours and encounters Earth 2.37 years. So, we return capsules to Earth after filling them for 2.37 years.

Perihelion is 0.808775968 AU - solar intensity 2,091 W/m2
Apohelion is 2.076824032 AU. - solar intensity 317.2 W/m2

657.2 W/m2 - average solar intensity. 2.37 years
49.15 gigajoules/m2
3000 kg of rock processed/m2
34 m2 = 100 tonnes of rock processed.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...tal-abundance/

$12,844 per period, 34 m2

$377 per m2 of solar collector!

$11,000 per kg of satellite. per period. $330,000 per kg of satellite over 30 years. 10 ton satellite translates to $3.3 billion over 30 years - $110 million per year.

Future Earth Enounters occur for this asteroid on;

Result 1: Tuesday, 23 October 2018
Result 2: Saturday, 6 March 2021
Result 3: Wednesday, 19 July 2023
Result 4: Sunday, 30 November 2025
Result 5: Thursday, 13 April 2028
Result 6: Monday, 26 August 2030
Result 7: Friday, 7 January 2033
Result 8: Tuesday, 22 May 2035
Result 9: Saturday, 3 October 2037
Result 10: Wednesday, 15 February 2040



UPCOMING CLOSE APPROACHES TO EARTH
1 AU = ~150 million kilometers
1 LD = Lunar Distance = ~384,000 kilometers
Object............... CA Date... CA Dist(AU) (LD) Diam...... H(mag) Relative Velocity (km/s)

(2014 JG55) 2016-May-08 0.0196 7.6 3.8 m - 8.6 m 29.2 10.55
(2015 VU64) 2016-May-08 0.1543 60.0 2.0 m - 4.5 m 30.6 4.14
(2016 HH19) 2016-May-08 0.0413 16.1 14 m - 30 m 26.5 9.06
(2016 HG19) 2016-May-08 0.1890 73.5 61 m - 140 m 23.2 12.77
(2010 KP10) 2016-May-08 0.0757 29.5 58 m - 130 m 23.3 9.90
(2016 JC6) 2016-May-08 0.0329 12.8 150 m - 330 21.3 5.69
(2005 XB1) 2016-May-09 0.1982 77.1 110 m - 240 22.0 9.88
(2016 EE158) 2016-May-09 0.0999 38.9 42 m - 94 m 24.0 3.20
(2016 JQ5) 2016-May-09 0.0040 1.6 6.3 m - 14 m 28.1 10.09
(2016 HM3) 2016-May-10 0.0693 27.0 21 m - 48 m 25.5 6.85
(1999 VR6) 2016-May-10 0.1858 72.3 180 m - 410 20.8 18.47
(2016 JE6) 2016-May-12 0.0633 24.6 36 m - 82 m 24.3 13.26
(2015 YK) 2016-May-12 0.1081 42.1 18 m - 39 m 25.9 2.87
(2014 BM62) 2016-May-12 0.1372 53.4 23 m - 52 m 25.3 12.91
(2007 VT6) 2016-May-13 0.1241 48.3 230 m - 520 20.3 21.20
(2008 GC110) 2016-May-13 0.1766 68.7 97 m - 220 22.2 8.15
(2015 HZ176) 2016-May-13 0.1641 63.9 48 m - 110 m 23.7 10.85
371660 (2007 2016-May-14 0.1760 68.5 160 m - 360 21.1 9.83
136818 Selqe 2016-May-15 0.1132 44.1 400 m - 900 19.1 10.72
(2014 MS67) 2016-May-16 0.1202 46.8 150 m - 340 21.2 16.60
(2016 JE5) 2016-May-16 0.1212 47.2 27 m - 60 m 25.0 7.38
(2016 BX14) 2016-May-16 0.0580 22.6 190 m - 430 20.7 8.23
(2016 GS2) 2016-May-18 0.0087 3.4 67 m - 150 m 23.0 8.01
(2016 GF216) 2016-May-18 0.0514 20.0 29 m - 65 m 24.8 2.58
(2006 XX2) 2016-May-18 0.1632 63.5 25 m - 57 m 25.1 13.43
(2015 VO142) 2016-May-18 0.1410 54.9 4.2 m - 9.4 m 29.0 2.72
(2000 AF205) 2016-May-18 0.1828 71.1 120 m - 270 21.7 14.01
(2016 GE2) 2016-May-18 0.1546 60.2 110 m - 250 21.9 6.92
(2016 HF3) 2016-May-18 0.0219 8.5 36 m - 80 m 24.3 7.58
(2005 UU3) 2016-May-18 0.1727 67.2 110 m - 240 22.0 13.58
(2014 GC49) 2016-May-19 0.1643 63.9 5.1 m - 11 m 28.6 13.81
(2012 VU76) 2016-May-20 0.1103 42.9 19 m - 43 m 25.7 7.54
(2016 JV5) 2016-May-21 0.1735 67.5 57 m - 130 m 23.3 7.82
(2009 JR2) 2016-May-22 0.1293 50.3 77 m - 170 m 22.7 10.90
(2016 CF194) 2016-May-24 0.0531 20.7 42 m - 94 m 24.0 3.90
(2009 DL46) 2016-May-24 0.0158 6.2 130 m - 300 21.5 6.46
(2016 HP3) 2016-May-25 0.0471 18.3 43 m - 97 m 23.9 9.36
(2016 JM) 2016-May-25 0.0709 27.6 14 m - 32 m 26.3 3.45
(2016 FM13) 2016-May-26 0.1232 48.0 33 m - 75 m 24.5 8.86
464798 2016-May-26 0.1463 56.9 350 m - 780 19.4 7.18
(2002 LT24) 2016-May-26 0.1011 39.4 100 m - 230 22.1 13.51
(2011 GP44) 2016-May-26 0.1460 56.8 35 m - 78 m 24.4 13.56
(2015 KT120) 2016-May-26 0.1471 57.2 27 m - 59 m 25.0 8.45
(2016 HK19) 2016-May-28 0.1743 67.8 130 m - 280 21.6 11.95
(2016 GZ240) 2016-May-28 0.0736 28.6 54 m - 120 m 23.5 5.72
(2014 WE6) 2016-May-30 0.1401 54.5 2.2 m - 4.9 m 30.4 3.83
(2016 JT) 2016-May-30 0.0777 30.3 39 m - 86 m 24.2 6.92
(2016 GP220) 2016-May-30 0.1905 74.1 110 m - 240 22.0 11.97
(2016 HQ19) 2016-May-31 0.0623 24.2 45 m - 100 m 23.9 7.39
(2010 LL68) 2016-May-31 0.1735 67.5 70 m - 160 m 22.9 10.51
(2015 YU1) 2016-May-31 0.0721 28.1 29 m - 65 m 24.8 4.82
(2009 HD82) 2016-May-31 0.1559 60.7 130 m - 280 21.6 10.90
(2004 KH17) 2016-Jun-02 0.1136 44.2 110 m - 250 21.9 12.84
(2016 HR6) 2016-Jun-02 0.0827 32.2 36 m - 81 m 24.3 3.91
(2006 XE2) 2016-Jun-05 0.1277 49.7 110 m - 240 22.0 16.22
(2006 JF42) 2016-Jun-06 0.0920 35.8 400 m - 900 19.1 14.28
(2016 JN5) 2016-Jun-07 0.1367 53.2 47 m - 110 m 23.8 9.38
(2016 JV) 2016-Jun-08 0.0420 16.3 22 m - 50 m 25.4 7.45
(2009 KR4) 2016-Jun-09 0.0943 36.7 27 m - 59 m 25.0 6.96
35396 (1997 2016-Jun-10 0.1800 70.0 1.1 km - 2.5 16.9 9.77
(2009 MW) 2016-Jun-12 0.1182 46.0 190 m - 430 20.7 11.65
(2002 LY1) 2016-Jun-12 0.0510 19.9 100 m - 230 22.1 9.89
(2015 XZ378) 2016-Jun-13 0.0250 9.7 9.7 m - 22 m 27.2 1.64
(2015 KS120) 2016-Jun-13 0.1443 56.2 22 m - 49 m 25.4 5.32
(2009 ME9) 2016-Jun-14 0.1646 64.1 150 m - 330 21.3 18.55
(2007 MK6) 2016-Jun-15 0.1018 39.6 280 m - 620 19.9 30.25
382758 (200 2016-Jun-15 0.0793 30.9 240 m - 540 20.2 6.48
(2002 LT38) 2016-Jun-16 0.0697 27.1 230 m - 520 20.3 6.66
(2013 BO27) 2016-Jun-16 0.1194 46.5 42 m - 94 m 24.0 12.92
(2015 KF) 2016-Jun-17 0.1331 51.8 25 m - 57 m 25.1 4.57
(2009 CV) 2016-Jun-20 0.0319 12.4 37 m - 82 m 24.3 4.69
(2013 ND15) 2016-Jun-21 0.0758 29.5 40 m - 90 m 24.1 17.26
(2016 CV193) 2016-Jun-23 0.1313 51.1 80 m - 180 m 22.6 7.04
441987 (2010 2016-Jun-24 0.0275 10.7 130 m - 300 21.5 12.95
(2012 BD14) 2016-Jun-26 0.1958 76.2 13 m - 30 m 26.5 6.37
(2011 FC29) 2016-Jun-27 0.1153 44.9 180 m - 390 20.9 13.01
(2007 WU3) 2016-Jun-28 0.1147 44.6 46 m - 100 m 23.8 9.07
(2014 KM22) 2016-Jun-30 0.1731 67.4 13 m - 30 m 26.5 8.55
(2009 HU44) 2016-Jul-01 0.1984 77.2 80 m - 180 m 22.6 14.50
(2015 TC25) 2016-Jul-02 0.1498 58.3 3.3 m - 7.5 m 29.5 3.23


 




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