Space Industry, Invest now!

[IDMclean]

Alright, skipping the part where we setup the infrastructure, and how we do it exactly, I am going to purpose a intrasolar setup for the exploitation of space-based raw resources.

 

The idea is several heliosyncronous waystations, a fleet of tugs for each one, and several arrays of Solar panelling with Microwave (or possibly laser) energy projection capabilities.

 

The solar arrays collect constant solar energy, and project it to be collected and used at the waystations. With enough of them the power produced could fuel the fleets of tugs. The tugs go out and collect various space rocks, and debris from the asteroid belts, and around the larger planets like Jupiter and Saturn (yes we could use Garbage, theoretically), and transports them back to the Waystations where they are processed using the unique combination of availible space enviroments (extreme low pressure and High temp, or extreme low presure and low temp).

 

The resulting processed materials, raw elements, and alloys are then collected into intraspacial containers, and "shot" towards earth, aimed at what would essentially be catcher's mits. At these satelites the materials are changed over from intraspacial containers (which are then passed to a waystation) into interplanetary vessels, capable of re-entry. The packaged materials then are passed down to whereever they're delivery point is.

 

The packaging can be produced in space, so the cost of resupplying would be neglegible. Maintence can be done easily and efficently through remotes. Health issues are a non-issue, as this would require minimal Human involvement beyond our local gravitywell.

 

Most all of this can be automated, and should be.

 

Pollution can be made neglegible by contained processing, and seperation. Garbage can be shipped up the gravitywell (costly), and processed at the waystations. The processing systems for the waystations can be run constantly and in cycles so that all harvested mass is retained and turned into useful product.

 

Any questions?

[Jay-qu]

You know space is fairly empty, you would have to go considerable distance in order to pick up some space junk.

[IDMclean]

Oh sorry I left out the part about the Asteroid Belts.

[Roadam]

That still needs a lot of equipment sent up the gravity well. Better to learn how to make things in space. Sooner the better.

 

And if you are already around astreoid belt, sent that cargo and equipment to mars; closer, less gravity involved and defenitely more valuable, unless you are transporting gold.:)

[TheFaithfulStone]

You can make crude oil out of Garbage right here on the good ol'Earth

 

Why fly?

 

That's even an ultra-low emission technology. Wanna make a million bucks in outer space? Buy materials technology stocks. The company that cracks economic CNT production is the next US Steel.

 

Edit: Of course, mining asteroids can't be done on earth, but with the amount of platinum and such you can find on asteroids, fuel cells might actually become economical.

 

All the good stuff is in outer space. I'm sold. Let's go.

 

TFS

[IDMclean]

You can also get hydrocarbons in space and the most attractive parts is the surplus of available power, ready made vacuum and low worries about pollution. Shipping the majority of our industrial processes off planet would give us more room, power, and time to worry about more pressing civil concerns.

 

Sure shipping upstream would cost, but that is the investment, like communication satellites.

 

Why if you got the first station and fleet up, you could probably build the rest of the operation in orbit, roboticly. Automated processing, and lack of the human element in dangerous industrial processes. Safe, clean, and cheap.

 

As for the gold comment? Gold is actually a rather mediocre material, it is it's historical value that keeps it as what it is today. The best place for gold is in electronics not as an economic commodity. Though I will admit jewelry is nice.

 

Also for future planning, we could take our infrastructure for our intrastellar industrial economy and use it to develop fusion, fission, and antimatter research labs. Cracking the atom for power was a major accomplishment, but how about structuring matter itself into the things we need? Lead into Gold. It's possible, though we would need a significant boost to our understanding of the atomic physics involved.

 

Now there is allot of material out there, floating around. I mean has anyone heard of Apophis 99942?

 

Sounds like a key opportunity to collect materials for intrastellar, and interstellar research and development.

 

I know that we are attached to the idea of sending people tooling around in there own personal space craft, but that is an unreasonable expectation. First we develop the roboticly oriented space technologies, and then have then do the development of the human oriented space technologies. It costs allot to build things in vacuum here on earth.

 

I can guarantee that it would cost near to nothing in the long term (50-100 years) to build the infrastructure out in space itself. There is allot more vacuum out there than there is down here. Same goes for power and freely available materials.

 

Inner Sol Asteroid Belt

Minor Planets

List of Sol objects

 

The ammount of available material is stagering, and think of the load off our planet economy? All that pollution, and power that is wasted.

And if you are already around astreoid belt, sent that cargo and equipment to mars; closer, less gravity involved and defenitely more valuable, unless you are transporting gold.

 

We want the gravity involved in shipping down stream, for our earth bound commodities. Keeping in mind that some assembly will be required as the aim is to produce the bits and pieces in space, and assemble the ships, satellites, stations and other such space based components in space.

[TheFaithfulStone]

What do we do in space? I don't know and I don't give a damn, we'll figure out when we get there.

 

What's a computer good for before it's invented? Who ever thought you would use them in your refrigerator?

 

TFS

[CraigD]

The idea is several heliosyncronous waystations, a fleet of tugs for each one, and several arrays of Solar panelling with Microwave (or possibly laser) energy projection capabilities.

…

The solar arrays collect constant solar energy, and project it to be collected and used at the waystations. With enough of them the power produced could fuel the fleets of tugs. The tugs go out and collect various space rocks, and debris from the asteroid belts, and around the larger planets like Jupiter and Saturn

Seems a bit elaborate, equating, in business terms, to “expensive” and “risky”.

 

To be favorably received by a rational investor, an investment opportunity must satisfy at least this simple equation:

 

[math]ROI \cdot P_{success} \ge Investment[/math]

 

For space ventures, of these 3 terms, only Investment (cost) is can be quantified with accuracy (and, as anyone familiar with project cost overruns can attest, even this can be difficult). Surprisingly, ROI (Return On Investment) can be very difficult to quantify, because, given the high cost and lower-than-usual probability of success, the predicted ROI must be very high. Since, as in KAC’s proposal, most near-future space ventures involve obtaining valuable (and therefore necessarily rare) raw materials, a large supply of them can “flood the market”, deflating their value. To meet the target ROI, then, more material must be returned, which further deflates their value, and so on, in a viscious, devaluing cycle.

 

Though I’m unable to find an online reference, I recall about a decade ago reading a fairly serious business case analysis for returning asteroid debris containing platinum. At current market value, 2,500 tons of platinum is worth $100 billion, making a $50 billion investment with a better than 50% chance of success feasible. However, the world supply of platinum is only about 190 tons/year. Flooding the market with over 10 times the annual supply would likely devalue it by about the same factor, reducing the ROI to $10 billion, a $40 billion loss. To avoid this, it would be necessary to supply the returned platinum at a modest rate, say 100 tons/year over 25 years. A 200% ROI for a 25 year (or, assuming the mission take 5 years to plan and execute, a very optimistic estimate, 30 year) investment isn’t very good – my checking account is a higher yield investment!

 

To succeed, a commercial valuable material return space mission needs to create additional demand for the material, permitting the market to absorb it without too much devaluing it. Not coincidentally, platinum may have such market potential, because it is the best catalyst material for PEM fuel cells. So, possibly a joint venture between a fuel cell manufacturer and a space mission could produce a favorable ROI, the fuel cell profits offsetting the space return mission losses.

 

Once modest ($10-100 billion – compare to the US space shuttle program’s total cost of about $150 billion) commercial space mission is successful, more ambitious ones, like KAC’s proposal, are likely to become more attractive.