Deep space industries plans to send mission to asteroid

[insert_name]

Apparently deep space industries plans to send a probe to prospect an asteroid by the end of the decade. Hope it works.

http://deepspaceindustries.com/first-commercial-interplanetary-mission/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000618

[Scotius]

I hope DSI already started building their probe - three years for asteroid exploration mission (even to NEO) is not much time. But best of luck to them We need to step up space exploration - refuelling stations in space are obvious step.

[insert_name]

it says in the link that they have a 3U cubesat technology demonstrator booked for launch in 2017 and that the launch would take place by the end of the decade, not necessarily the landing.

[Wjolcz]

Wow, their logo looks like something straight out of Alien movie.

The more companies like that the better. I've heard that the chinese Moon rover had some sort of mineral scanning equipment. If that's true and they are also looking for resources then we're about to witness The Space Race MK II.

[Emperor of the Titan Squid]

This sure is great! I am excited to see how this. All works out! Asteroid mining will be a big step in space exploration.

[Kryten]

That looks like a solid kick motor on their sat, they're going to have great trouble finding somebody willing to rideshare with that. A dedicated Electron launch could work.

[Tyko]

It's cool and is a path to more accessible space travel, but companies have a history of screwing up big projects - think oil spills and fertilizer plant explosions - if they manage to screw up an asteroid re-positioning it could be a lot worse than oil in the Gulf, or a massive chemical fire that destroys a neighborhood.

 

Edited August 15, 2016 by tjt

[magnemoe]

40 minutes ago, tjt said:

It's cool and is a path to more accessible space travel, but companies have a history of screwing up big projects - think oil spills and fertilizer plant explosions - if they manage to screw up an asteroid re-positioning it could be a lot worse than oil in the Gulf, or a massive chemical fire that destroys a neighborhood.

 

This would be very unlikely, you will only intercept earth if you do an radial burn to go from an retro to pro grade intercept, you also have plane changes but this would be done in deep space too.

Secondary, current plans is to mine on the asteroid and return raw materials, mostly water to earth orbit. Changing an orbit of an decent sized asteroid would require hardware one another scale. 
 

[Tyko]

4 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

This would be very unlikely, you will only intercept earth if you do an radial burn to go from an retro to pro grade intercept, you also have plane changes but this would be done in deep space too.

Secondary, current plans is to mine on the asteroid and return raw materials, mostly water to earth orbit. Changing an orbit of an decent sized asteroid would require hardware one another scale. 
 

I'm not saying it's likely...especially not with the first few when the world's attention is on them. Just like oil rig failures are highly unlikely and chemical plant explosions are rare. Just saying that that mistakes happen when things become commonplace and the scale of a mistake, if it did happen, could be significantly higher.

[magnemoe]

6 minutes ago, tjt said:

I'm not saying it's likely...especially not with the first few when the world's attention is on them. Just like oil rig failures are highly unlikely and chemical plant explosions are rare. Just saying that that mistakes happen when things become commonplace and the scale of a mistake, if it did happen, could be significantly higher.

Oil spills and other accidents tend to be chance of accident over time, being more careful and focus on security reduce the risk but can not eliminate it. 
Asteroid redirects will require an intercept to be dangerous this is both very unlikely and its easy to do the burn so it never intercept. 
This is stuff 50-100 year in the future and I leave it for them. More of an issue is to avoid junk from the asteroid mining create problems for others if you mine it in earth orbit.

[kerbiloid]

On 13.08.2016 at 2:28 AM, Veeltch said:

Wow, their logo looks like something straight out of Alien movie.

Later they will rename their startup into Weyland-Yutani...