Iron outside = Iron inside

I would like to re-introduce a completely different approach to asteroid
mining to this group. See
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/~globus/papers/AsterAnts/paper.html. Basic idea:
find very small asteroids (~1 meter diameter) and return the whole thing
to Earth orbit. Use a large fleet of solar sail powered spacecraft to
get large amounts of returned mass. Using a large fleet gives you
economies of manufacturing scale and failure tolerance. Returning whole
asteroids avoids the uncertainties of rock mining.

George Perkins wrote:
>
> Thank you for your response, Ed, and sorry if I was a little
> unfeeling in my post.
>
> Concentrating on precurser robotic missions is a waste of time and
> money, so, it turns out, that what's really impractical is exactly
> this sort of thing.
>
> Inventors want to push their inventions. They want to plug their
> ideas into space, sort of, and this is normal for anyone that has
> some vision.
>
> But the rocks that have Iron on the outside have Iron on the inside.
>
> Telescopic spectroscopy detects the presence of Iron.
>
> Detailed spectroscopy isn't needed for asteroid selection.
>
> You do the detail spectroscopy after you get there.
>
> If you do it with a special robodroid, you're just wasting time and
> money.
>
> Humans are also needed to repair and to apply creative engineering
> directives from earth or a master engineer on board.
>
> They will, in addition, be helpful in salvaging and returning damaged
> property to earth (if needed) for more in depth analyses.
>
> So, what's really impractical is the probe-only concept.
>
> George
>

--
Al Globus
CSC at NASA Ames Research Center
aglobus@..., (650) 604-4404
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/~globus/home.html

The dinosaurs weren't spacefaring. We are. I don't think that's an
accident. Maybe we are life's taxi to the stars.