Source of parts for power satellites
7 views
Skip to first unread message
Keith Henson
Jan 10, 2023, 1:00:20 PM1/10/23
to Power Satellite Economics
The original O'Neill space colony/power satellite proposal used the
moon for a gravel pit and extensive chemical processing in space to
obtain materials for power satellites and space colonies.
There were other proposals at the time, particularly mining asteroids
by Brian O'Leary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_O%27Leary
Preliminary work by some very sharp people was reported in the first
several issues of the Space Manufacturing Proceedings. Talks were
given at Princeton. I gave one talk on space farms with my ex-wife
and two with Eric Drexler, one on vapor phase fabrication and the
other on dust-filled radiators.
O'Neill estimated a cost of close to $178 B over 14 years in his 1975
Science article so the enormous scope was understood.
This was almost 50 years ago.
Since then, I am aware of only two proposals to sort asteroid material
for useful (or at least valuable) materials and no work on lunar
materials. One is in a fictional context, (Revolution from Rosinante)
and the other is a near work of whimsy I did on mining an asteroid for
gold. (If anyone knows of more I am most interested.)
When I started working on power satellites, it was all from the
ground. That required a cost to GEO of $200/kg or less. With
electric propulsion to get the LEO to GEO reaction mass down, that
looked possible. I have never doubted a later generation of power
satellites constructed from extraterrestrial materials but the time to
establish an industrial base able to support power satellite
construction is long, perhaps 15 years after commitment--which is 5
years into the future or more.
Keith
moon for a gravel pit and extensive chemical processing in space to
obtain materials for power satellites and space colonies.
There were other proposals at the time, particularly mining asteroids
by Brian O'Leary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_O%27Leary
Preliminary work by some very sharp people was reported in the first
several issues of the Space Manufacturing Proceedings. Talks were
given at Princeton. I gave one talk on space farms with my ex-wife
and two with Eric Drexler, one on vapor phase fabrication and the
other on dust-filled radiators.
O'Neill estimated a cost of close to $178 B over 14 years in his 1975
Science article so the enormous scope was understood.
This was almost 50 years ago.
Since then, I am aware of only two proposals to sort asteroid material
for useful (or at least valuable) materials and no work on lunar
materials. One is in a fictional context, (Revolution from Rosinante)
and the other is a near work of whimsy I did on mining an asteroid for
gold. (If anyone knows of more I am most interested.)
When I started working on power satellites, it was all from the
ground. That required a cost to GEO of $200/kg or less. With
electric propulsion to get the LEO to GEO reaction mass down, that
looked possible. I have never doubted a later generation of power
satellites constructed from extraterrestrial materials but the time to
establish an industrial base able to support power satellite
construction is long, perhaps 15 years after commitment--which is 5
years into the future or more.
Keith
Erinn van Wynsberghe
Jan 10, 2023, 4:26:21 PM1/10/23
to Power Satellite Economics
Hello all,
NASA's latest SBIR call asks specifically for wireless power transfer on the Moon and Mars:
Scroll through or search for "Innovative Ways to Transmit Power Over Long Distances for Lunar and Mars Missions"
Cheers,
Erinn
Erinn van Wynsberghe
President & CEO
VanWyn Inc.
President & CEO
VanWyn Inc.
USA: 205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 810,Chicago, IL 60601
CANADA: 175 Longwood Road South, Suite 105, Hamilton, ON L8P 0A1
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Power Satellite Economics" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to power-satellite-economics+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/power-satellite-economics/CAPiwVB5OU0d77V%2BH-_moxcMdQbYA8m0qM1oUO0o6nYt8xVjhhw%40mail.gmail.com.
John Jossy
Jan 11, 2023, 11:50:45 AM1/11/23
to Keith Henson, Power Satellite Economics
Hi Keith
Regarding your request for proposals on sorting asteroid material have you heard of SHEPHERD? Here’s my interview with Bruce Damer, one of the co-inventors of the concept:
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Power Satellite Economics" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to power-satellite-ec...@googlegroups.com.
Keith Henson
Jan 11, 2023, 12:28:57 PM1/11/23
to John Jossy, Power Satellite Economics
Interesting, though I don't think they understand the Mond process.
On the other hand, neither do I. What is needed is the rate CO eats
away at asteroid materials. Also, as far as I know, the process takes
about 15 bar (750 psi) of CO which is going to take one heck of a bag.
I put numbers on some of this here https://htyp.org/Mining_Asteroids
ten years ago.
Someone needs to spend serious money on this project.
Keith
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/power-satellite-economics/CAPAjdbi0Se4UuiqcCx92wS%3DmFb1H1C5%3DrRspyeBNEb76uyx5-g%40mail.gmail.com.
On the other hand, neither do I. What is needed is the rate CO eats
away at asteroid materials. Also, as far as I know, the process takes
about 15 bar (750 psi) of CO which is going to take one heck of a bag.
I put numbers on some of this here https://htyp.org/Mining_Asteroids
ten years ago.
Someone needs to spend serious money on this project.
Keith
John Jossy
Jan 11, 2023, 12:35:55 PM1/11/23
to Keith Henson, Power Satellite Economics
Joel Sercel is working an alternative approach:
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages