Platinum Group Metals (PGMs)

[snikt]
> How low do launch prices have to be before return of PGMs to Earth becomes
> economically viable?
>

Another question: how small can an ore processing plant be? Suppose that we
can compact such a plant to the size of a car or even a refrigerator (no, I
haven't the slightest idea whether that is possible or not). Then, maybe we
could modify Al Globus' AsterAnts idea in the following way:

Instead of having a single robot that hatches to a meteoroid and bring it
back to HEEO, we could send a robotic system composed of three interacting
agents: (A) the automated ore processing plant, (B) a small mobile robot to
collect regolith and drop it inside A and (C) a robotic tug that would
transport the whole system to the NEO.

When the system arrives, B starts collecting regolith and feeding A, which
starts to produce, say, platinum pellets. When there is an amount of
platinum equal to the size of A plus B, then the tug transports the platinum
back to Earth. Considering that launch cost are about US$ 10,000/Kg and
platinum, according to your table, is around US$ 50,000/Kg, then the owner
of the system would have a fivefold profit. (Not considering the costs of
the system and R&D to produce it, which may be enormous, by the way.) With
more roundtrips of the tug, the profit would be larger.

>
> Ron Menich

Lucio Coelho