NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID-MINING VENTURE: RESOURCES, METHODS, AND ECONOMICS
Open Access
- Author:
- Kamdar, Kartik
- Area of Honors:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Sven G Bilen, Thesis Supervisor
Kenneth Steven Brentner, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Asteroid mining
NEA mining
Asteroid
NEA
Mining venture
Aerospace
Space
Astronomy
Entrepreneurship - Abstract:
- The analysis of asteroids reveals that they contain abundant deposits of volatiles and minerals that could support our needs on the Earth and ambitions in space. Platinum group metals and other rare-earth elements could be delivered to the Earth to supplement depleting terrestrial reserves important for semiconductors and fuel cells. Water and other volatiles could be used as a propellant and for life support in long-duration human space missions. Several near-Earth asteroids have been discovered that can be accessed from low Earth Orbit with delta-v less than that required to get to the Moon. There are several problems associated with mining an asteroid such as different surface conditions and mineralogic content; attachment of the equipment and extraction of the material in microgravity conditions; and the varying spin rates of asteroids. This thesis discusses the mining of near-Earth asteroids: determining the most economically feasible resource to mine, discussing and comparing some of the leading mining concepts for determining the ideal mining architecture, and introducing the concept of Net Present Value as the best measure for the techno-economic analysis of a hypothetical NEA mining mission. A mission utilizing several small spacecraft instead of a large traditional spacecraft, depending on robotic components instead of humans, and employing a mining method based on the near-Earth asteroid properties is determined to be the most efficient and cost-effective choice for a successful commercial mining venture.