Iron outside = Iron inside

I you capture a small meteoroid for Earth return you need to apply
thrust. Since meteroids all rotate, you can only easily apply thrust
along the axis of rotation. This is unlikely to be the right
direction. Therefor, you need to somehow decouple rotation and thrust
application.

One approach is to use diamagnetic force. This force has been used to
levitate frogs and other such things on Earth (anyone still have that
URL?). However, as far as I know, no one has done the analysis to
figure out if the diamagnetic force one can apply to a meteroid is in
the right order of magnitude.

rmenich@... wrote:
>
> Could somebody please briefly summarize what the "meteoroid rotation
> problem" is, and also what "touchless dragging" is? Thanks.
>
> Ron Menich
>
> Al Globus
> To:
> spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
> 09/19/01 11:51 AM cc:
> Please respond to spacesettlers Subject: Re:
> [spacesettlers] Iron outside = Iron
> inside
>
> "Dr. Omni" wrote:
> >
> > > 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. U...
> >
> > Hi Al,
> >
> > And what about the problem of meteoroid rotation, that you pointed
> out some
> > while ago? (I even suggested "touchless dragging", based on
> diamagnetism, to
> > circumvent this problem, though I did not now about the feasibility
> of the
> > suggestion...)
>
> I briefly looked into the touchless dragging based on diamagnetism but
> didn't get to the point of doing any numbers (I would have to learn
> the
> physics first and I haven't had the time). In any case, I consider
> the
> rotation problem unsolved for the moment.
> >
> > Lucio Coelho
> >
> --
> 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.
>

--
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.