How would you scifi asteroid mine?

[Spacescifi]

 

My way is partially realistic. What is not is how fast they can reach the asteroid (using a warp drive to cross it's orbital trajectory, and a constant acceleration drive for intercept.

Extraction of ore and minerals is acomplished by blowing up the asteroid into chunks, then releasing a funnel dragnet behind the vessel and quickly flying through the fresh asteroid field that has been created.

Low-tech but it works. Last step is to warp back to a LEO ore processing facility and let them do the processing work. While the ship goes to mine more. I really like using a net because it does not limit the quantity of ore by a spaceship's cargo hold, only the size and strength of it's funnel catching net.

What method would you use in scifi and why?

[Bill Phil]

Why even bother with mining ships?

Send out a seeder ship and then use local resources to build a mass driver. Dig up or just cut  off pieces. Then just catapult chunks back to a catcher at home. If sufficient automation is possible no crew is necessary. More mass drivers and catchers would increase throughput.

Each individual chunk would be small enough that even if it hit Earth it would burn up harmlessly. However the risk of that can be minimized if the catchers are stationed at Sun Earth Lagrange points.

[Spacescifi]

17 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

Why even bother with mining ships?

Send out a seeder ship and then use local resources to build a mass driver. Dig up or just cut  off pieces. Then just catapult chunks back to a catcher at home. If sufficient automation is possible no crew is necessary. More mass drivers and catchers would increase throughput.

Each individual chunk would be small enough that even if it hit Earth it would burn up harmlessly. However the risk of that can be minimized if the catchers are stationed at Sun Earth Lagrange points.

Because although it is realistic, it takes longer?

With scifi mining ships you would get a return on the investment of making the ships much sooner.

EDIT: Actually a proper ming vessel could be shaped like a huge hollow cylinder with a net on the front. Just fly thru the blown-up asteroid fragments and collect. A much better design than my previous one. When it comes to jobs that spaceships do in space, optimization is preferred to get the most work done. Who cares if my starship looks pretty if it cannot do the work it was supposed to do as efficiently as it could have with a better design?

Edited May 24, 2019 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

Depends on the asteroid you want to mine.

If you want to mine aluminium with that high-tech, you need clay and stones. They mostly consist of Al, Si, and O, and you don't need an asteroid, they're right here.

If you need iron, then its total production is much greater than aluminium right now. Again, why fly?

[Spacescifi]

4 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Depends on the asteroid you want to mine.

If you want to mine aluminium with that high-tech, you need clay and stones. They mostly consist of Al, Si, and O, and you don't need an asteroid, they're right here.

If you need iron, then its total production is much greater than aluminium right now. Again, why fly?

Yeah, trying to justify the why of asteroid mining makes little sense unless you need it to refuel and or equip your spaceships in outer space. Without going back down to a planet's surface.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Spacescifi

[steuben]

3 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Depends on the asteroid you want to mine.

If you want to mine aluminium with that high-tech, you need clay and stones. They mostly consist of Al, Si, and O, and you don't need an asteroid, they're right here.

If you need iron, then its total production is much greater than aluminium right now. Again, why fly?

Chemisty is why.

[Spacescifi]

6 minutes ago, steuben said:

Chemisty is why.

Which means what? I well know for the scale of ore processing done on earth to be done in space you would likely have to import some resources found most abundant on earth.

It is rather hard to do that level of processing using only asteroid resources. 

Even if I had metallic hydrogen rockets and antigravity shielding to make my scifi ships immune to gravity, it would still be a challenge.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

27 minutes ago, steuben said:

Chemisty is why.

What's wrong with chemistry? Same alumina. Same power instead of chemistry.