Yes, We Can Build Industry in Space—And We Should Start Now

[kevindavis007]

A former NASA scientist says we have everything we need to mine and manufacture in the stars.


In a lengthy proposal released last week, former NASA researcher and current University of Central Florida professor Dr. Phil Metzger argues that the development of a mining and manufacturing supply chain in space is both plausible and beneficial. Metzger, whose work at NASA included developing Lunar and Martian architecture, writes that offworld manufacturing would benefit the economy, the environment, and science.


“The main challenge for this concept,” he writes, “is neither technology nor cost but simply convincing people it is realistic.”


Metzger describes a three-stage path to what he calls a Self-sufficient Replicating Space Industry, or SRSI, in which largely robotic mining operations would extract resources that would be transformed into useful goods in offworld robotic manufacturing facilities. The Moon and nearby asteroids contain hydrogen, carbon, silicon, metals, and other materials necessary for industry.


Though sending all of the equipment needed for mining and manufacturing operations into space from Earth is impractical, Metzger argues that a small amount of autonomous equipment could be used to “bootstrap” materials into a more and more complex operation. He projects that only 12 tons of initial assets on the Moon could build themselves out into 150 tons of equipment (close to the amount that has been deemed necessary for a lunar colony) using local resources.


In its early stages, the SRSI would build structures from mined metal and produce propellant from water. Eventually, those structures would house manufacturing facilities to produce equipment for further exploration. As Metzger points out, the most easily and thoroughly automated industries on Earth today are also those most necessary for space development – the manufacturing of electronics, transportation equipment, and machinery. Several factories on Earth already operate with zero human supervision.


Read More: http://www.isn-news.net/2016/09/yes-we-can-build-industry-in-spaceand.html

[Cripplecreek]

More than anything else, mining and manufacturing in space is the key to exploring and colonizing our solar system.

A ship the size of an aircraft carrier is impossible to get off the surface of the earth but could carry a large less specialized crew for longer duration trips. Provision it for 2 or 3 years and take your time getting to mars and back or even further from the sun.

[geronl]

There is such a huge under-served market up there, after all. 

[Oceander]

There is such a huge under-served market up there, after all. 

But there is a big market down here, one which becomes more and more underserved as the eco-nazis get more and more of their agenda.

[Cripplecreek]

But there is a big market down here, one which becomes more and more underserved as the eco-nazis get more and more of their agenda.

Gravity eliminates the vast majority of your energy costs for bringing space manufactured products to earth.

[Gefn]

There is such a huge under-served market up there, after all. 

Red Dwarf was a Jupiter mining ship. (Originally).

[Oceander]

Gravity eliminates the vast majority of your energy costs for bringing space manufactured products to earth.

Parachutes and ablative linings away!

[Cripplecreek]

Parachutes and ablative linings away!

Land them in dry lake beds and recycle the metals of the shipping containers.

[Oceander]

Land them in dry lake beds and recycle the metals of the shipping containers.

Or in deserts.  You could probably also use some of the mining waste - i.e., rocky material that wasn't very useful, and didn't get contaminated with processing - as ablative shields that just burn up as the payload descends.  Not too much left to recycle after that.

[Cripplecreek]

Or in deserts.  You could probably also use some of the mining waste - i.e., rocky material that wasn't very useful, and didn't get contaminated with processing - as ablative shields that just burn up as the payload descends.  Not too much left to recycle after that.

Any large open area will do. They would become more accurate with time, practice, and new technologies. Maybe deploy a radio controlled parafoils to land multiple containers in a couple hundred square acres.

[Just_Victor]

Any large open area will do. They would become more accurate with time, practice, and new technologies. Maybe deploy a radio controlled parafoils to land multiple containers in a couple hundred square acres.

Acres are already a measure of area (square feet).  So square acres would be square feet squared or feet^4.

But I like the idea.  Landing the containers in a fourth dimensional space would probably bypass gravity altogether.   

[Oceander]

Acres are already a measure of area (square feet).  So square acres would be square feet squared or feet^4.

But I like the idea.  Landing the containers in a fourth dimensional space would probably bypass gravity altogether.   

Well, to be fair, the reference could have been to acres that have four equal sides and 90 degree angles.  Those would be parcels of land about 208.71 feet to a side.

[Just_Victor]

Well, to be fair, the reference could have been to acres that have four equal sides and 90 degree angles.  Those would be parcels of land about 208.71 feet to a side.

That occurred to me, but what's the fun in that?

[Oceander]

That occurred to me, but what's the fun in that?

[r9etb]

More than anything else, mining and manufacturing in space is the key to exploring and colonizing our solar system.

Yeah, but it's really only useful if the stuff stays in space, which implies a need -- in space -- for same.  For pretty much anything else, except really exotic stuff, it's a lot easier and cheaper to mine and/or manufacture it down here.

It's the start-up that kills the idea.  No sane private corporation or consortium would invest the multi-billions required to build the initial infrastructure, as the initial costs would be ruinous, and ROI wouldn't be available for decades, if ever. 

Any ROI would depend on a thriving economy based around and built from that initial infrastructure ... and profitable in its own right (i.e., in space): an export-based economy that depends on sending products to Earth is not generally feasible due to cost differential of space vs. Earth-bound manufacturing.  But that requires the infrastructure to be already in place.... which takes us back to the first point.

So you're left with a government program of the Interstate Highway System variety -- a protracted, very expensive, and quite risky, and the sustainment of which is likely to remain the responsibility of the government for a long time.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

There is such a huge under-served market up there, after all. 

Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #62 "The riskier the road, the greater the profit."