AsterAnts

Dear Folks,
It is silly to say that a good machine shop can make their own tools,
unless by tools you mean only those small pieces of metal that are used for
cutting surfaces on, for example, a lathe. If you mean lathes, chucks, etc.
this idea is wrong. Even drill bits. Why do shops order such items even
when they have slack time? How would one make such machines in outer
space?
Capturing small asteroids will never be cheep. Maybe if they are small,
only small space craft will be needed, but those craft will need a lot of
capabilities, engines (ion, sails, or other wise), to navigate (know where
they are) to communicate and respond, to attach them selves and to do these
things over the many years which will be required to get to a small asteroid
and more years to bring something back. It takes only a 2 or 3 days to go
to the Moon, but perhaps 8 months to Mars, and this is a discussion of going
a comparable or greater distance.
There is a company which is working in the real world to do some of these
tasks who's web site provides useful information, http://www.spacedev.com/.
One can buy stock and apply for employment, etc. there.
Sincerely, Jay Huebner