Iron outside = Iron inside

Ian Woollard wrote:
>
> Al Globus 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
>
> The only comment I have is have you run the numbers with a low ISP
> ion drive instead of the sail?

No, but it's a good idea. A good trade study is needed. At the time I
wrote the paper I was really interested in solar sails so I used them,
not for any really good engineering reason.

--
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.