This is why the end game scenario from marvel impossible, you don not have scarcity if you can go into space. We will need to get ready to turn into a post scarcity civilization as we et deeper into space. There is no over population neither.
Chew on this for awhile..... Believe it or not this capturing asteroid plus our first redirection of an asteroid we've already done is our first step to building are Dyson sphere around our Sun! By redirecting an asteroid or asteroids to a suitable distance around the Sun to keep them Molten we could have machines process the molten material and started building the sphere. The temperature required to melt an asteroid depends on several factors such as the size, composition, and distance from the Sun. The distance from the Sun is particularly important because it determines how much solar radiation the asteroid receives, which can cause it to heat up and potentially melt. Assuming a typical asteroid composition of silicates and metals, it would take a temperature of around 1,200 to 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,200 to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit) to melt it. However, the actual temperature required would depend on the specific composition of the asteroid. To determine how close an asteroid would have to be to the Sun to melt, we can use the concept of the "Goldilocks zone" or the "habitable zone". This is the range of distances from a star where conditions are just right for liquid water to exist on the surface of a planet. In our case, we want to find the range of distances from the Sun where an asteroid would receive enough solar radiation to reach the melting point. We can call it the "Industrial Zone". It's important to note that this is a rough estimate and that the actual distance required could vary depending on the specific characteristics of the asteroid. if we can control one asteroid into an orbit where it melts and then allows other asteroids to be added to the melted material in a way and speed that would expand the molten material in the correct way, a mega structure could start accumulating. we will of course know beforehand the composition of the asteroids we are controlling to make sure they melt in a specific manner. If we can control multiple asteroids and add them to the molten material of the first asteroid in a controlled manner, it could potentially lead to the accumulation of enough molten material to build a megastructure. In this scenario, the key would be to carefully control the addition of each asteroid to the molten material to ensure that it solidifies in the correct way and forms the desired structure. This would require an understanding of the melting point and composition of each asteroid, as well as the temperature and conditions required to melt and shape the molten material. Of course this would take extreme amounts of calculations. different size asteroids would require different calculations sent into the orbit and the megastructure itself would eventually have to be pushed by the forces of the new material being added far enough distance away to be usable. I can see generating of Power from such a structure as the most likely first use of such a structure. as our technology evolves we could have these megastructures orbiting further from the Sun in a way that they could be habitable eventually but I see them most useful as utility structures for generation of power and capturing the sun's energy from a close proximity and bring it back to Earth. or whatever other planet we need to bring the energy to assuming we'll be inhabiting other planets eventually like Mars Building a habitable structure around the Sun would be a much more challenging and long-term goal, requiring the development of technologies for maintaining a sustainable environment, such as life support systems, waste management, and food production. However, as our understanding of space and technology advances, it's possible that such a goal could be achieved in the future.
Why bring the asteroids back to Earth? That would be dangerous. It would be much more efficient to take the extra time to refine/store/transport the asteroids in space. Much less force would be required to manipulate the asteroids in space than on Earth.
When space objects collide, and while conservation of momentum stays intact, much of that can transfer to one of those colliding objects--sometimes leading to solar system escape velocity for it. Was the asteroid belt denser in the past, having thinned out this way? Does Bode's law actually apply? Was there a 5th planet between Mars and Jupiter? Might Vesta tun out to be part of its core? How many minerals and heavy ores are in Vesta? In longer time frame, how much of those could be extractable?
On my iPad it say that this video was uploaded 3 weeks ago, not 2011, which is the last year that the Shuttle was used? Why use a shuttle in your diagrams? You were happy to use invented asteroid capture vehicles and perhaps you could use Starship, but the Shuttle? Otherwise this an excellent video.
Needs LOTS of regulation, public funding, international cooperation, open source development, and transparency and public oversight. Could be extremely dangerous and weaponized otherwise, and would pose an extreme threat to the planet. Deep state and billionaires NOT allowed.
Wouldn't it be a lot more feasible - and cheaper - to use advanced robotics to do all this, including taking the probes? Sending human astronauts is really cool but also way more expensive.
Cutting edge science on the citizen's dime was always NASA's purpose, the hard rock work of colonizing the solar system was always going to be up to the "free market". There will be large political problems arising from that colonization, like the Human Rights of the Colonists and who actually owns those asteroids. There will also be the problem of processing those asteroids and what is to be done with the finished products. Probably, most of the material made in space will remain in space to further the process of colonization. A spaceship made on Earth must be made of exotic materials while one made in space could be made of cast iron, with shields made of the slag from the foundry! Water found in space would also have many uses such as radiation shielding and trade goods, the return of the Ice Man! How those things are made will be another good question. Several people have pointed out that smelting ore and making liquid metals in a weightless environment would cause any number of problems, not to mention just separating materials which is usually done with the aid of gravity, here on Earth. I suggest foundries on Luna or, later on, Phobos or Neimos or some largish body with a small amount of gravity. Building a blast furnace in space offers another challenge. Lots of interesting stuff that must be paid for and Humans will have to do the work, as Robots of that caliber are centuries away.
By far the best "unique" content you've released. Many content creators rehash the same material, sometimes better, often times not. This was great and refreshing to get something entirely new. Now to see if some copycat RU-vidr tries to remake the topic.
They should definitely find one that’s packed with rich ore in it and bring it back say with 15-20+ billion worth of gold and silver in it. I say nasa could do that and be able to keep all the $ it’s worth and put it back into the program
Unfortunately NASA is a government program at heart, so if they bring back riches from the heavens the looters in DC, NYC, Brussels, and board rooms across the world will want their cut.
i have been saying this for years, currently working towards this as a live passion, i want in this industry so bad its gonna happen, ateroids hold so much value it would even be viable to orbit them around mars or even maybe venus
i read about the Asteroid Redirect mission before but NASA's priroty is the Artemis now but i'm hoping that they're going to look again on this one soon
You know, if NASA was up for it. They could open this new asteroid up for mining. By setting up a company or company's to mine it. It would be easy to move stuff to where we need it. We could use the resources and the revenue just might pay for the entire project in the long run.
Capture a LARGE asteroid and put it in orbit around the moon. Now you have a good "space station" around the moon. Do it again for Mars but it needs to be a VERY LARGE asteroid. Earth's moon constantly kneads the planet. All this pushing and pulling creates heat. Mars lacks such a moon. Could a "new" moon about 1/4 the size of Mars possibly get it's core moving again. Just a thought?
First, why would we put human life in such danger??? Use the Robotics that we should have could have used years ago… I stopped paying attention midway through until I heard. “Thank You for…” ‘What, I missed it?’ not much? What I hoped I missed was them telling us of the advances in Lasers.?? The toaster-sized satellites would use the Solar Electric Powered Lasers to push the Near Earth Asteroids. The Lasers would not blow up the asteroids but change their orbits, so they would bring themselves closer to Earth. The Honeycomb would go around them and squeeze the good stuff out.?? I don’t know, I think the Honeycomb is for transporting the asteroid, but I think it is a waste of time and power. We should be able to push more asteroids to a cislunar orbit where they can smash into the Lunar Gateway. Then again we should have Starships ready and waiting to catch the not-so-massive asteroids. The mile-wide asteroids can softly smash into the Moon whereas the Moon mining robotics can mine the asteroid if the asteroid doesn’t smash them to pieces.
I'll vote for asteroid over Artemis Space Launch System. We'll have plenty of reasonable cost commercial launch providers. Let's ditch the obscenely costly SLS and transfer that cost pure science missions.
future spacecrafts designs needs to more space plane type than the current cylindrical modules . . . large space plane, even way bigger than the NASA Space Shuttle . . . infact NASA could seriously do with a new larger Space Shuttle based on the original STS design . . . how about using a able sized/shaped asteroid for atmospheric re-entry . . . the asteroid will act as a second shield in addition to the spacecraft's own shield . . .
So I know this is somewhat off topic but I've wondered why they don't send a railgun up to the moon and use the moon as a launch base for sending probes and stuff to destinations in our solar system. They wouldn't need fuel for trajectory bc the probe would be launched from the railgun.
Humans don't need to be part of this gig. We already have a massive amount of expertise in satellite robot function. Gravity wells are very expensive, so never to there.
Has anyone asked what would happen to the moon if we put an asteroid in it's orbit? Depending on the total mass of the asteroid, it could get the moon to move in an unprotected orbit over time.
use a regular booster rocket to push a nuclear powered rocket into space fly nuclear powered rocket to asteroid and use nuclear powered rocket to push asteroid towards orbit around moon
Mining asteroids is a plausible concept that has been around for decades. With the advances in technology and projected value of harvested asteroids, I think NASA can just step aside and let the free market go for it. This will be a huge business and key driver for a massive growth in space exploration. The commercial space industry is attracting the best talent now anyway and is proving they can do things much faster, better and cheaper.
The biggest issue will be refining the ore in micro gravity, either that or if Elon figures out how to land (or is even given permission to land) Starship with a full payload. I think he is going to have to move Space X to Kenya or Equador just to be free of the FAA to get things done!
I just think it’s funny… we got Russia being like “ well I’m gunna take Ukraine since the world sucks rn”. America: “we’re gunna defend Ukraine” Russia: “well I’m gunna use a nuke then” America: “wow that’s scary… ima be discreet” America: “I’m gunna go mine asteroids now”
Good to see NASA are actually dreaming of the future and have a target that will super boost a space economy, fiddeling around with LEO stations to make defective free silicon is such a small horizon. And I don't want to be a spoil sport, but every asteroid or comet that has actually been inspected by NASA, ESA and Japan with space probes was or seems to be actually solid rock and certainly NOT slushy snowballs or loose collection of rocks and dust.
I have great repect for the SpaceX engineers - not so much for Elon. Frankly, if Starship works like Elon promised, it would be the first time any of his projects had.
Asteroid retrieval is probably a far cheaper and more robust path towards space settlement than landing on the moon or mars. Set up a lunar gateway (pretty much ISS 2.0) in high lunar orbit and send out these robotic tugs to bring back asteroid samples to practice ISRU, eg extracting water for fuel and life support. Sure, you could use this for going to the moon as well or just teleoperating robotic rovers with less lag than from earth.
Got to be VERY careful with this. Dont not want to mess something up we are not aware of. The addition of an asteroid in orbit could mess up all sorts of fields.
Y'all have seen the 70s version of Andromeda Strain, right? This is how we get Andromeda strain. If we cant keep our biosafety labs safe, we certainly can't keep our space junk safe either.
