Robotic Asteroid Prospector (RAP) NIAC Phase 1 Results

The looming dearth of the earthy materials has surged up as an imperative issue demanding an urgent relief. The Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA) have been discovered to be an indispensable aid to this dispute of society. Since asteroids are composed of volatiles, minerals, hydrocarbons and their isotopes, which can be subjugated with the employment of present technology, hard rock drilling mechanism, these assist to be one of the most impeccable solution being approachable and economically feasible. This paper discusses about the mining of NEA, briefing about the technical and scientific methods employed to reach and mine an asteroid and also mandates about the approach involved to deliver the extracted materials back to earth using a solar powered mining rover. Asteroids being micro-gravity planetoids raise a high degree of intricacy in extracting them. Targeting mineral rich NEA a solar powered mining rover, which has been made to adhere to the surface of asteroid by burrowing anti-rotational screws, would mine the asteroid to dig out the minerals and would accumulate them in matrix chambers, made of high thermal and radiation resistant lightweight materials possessing high strength. Mechanical approach has been gabbed about in order to drill the asteroid and excavate the resources and hence forth a push mechanism has been briefed that would allow it to transport the materials back onto earth. The extraction of such affluent minerals which are metals such as iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), silicon (Si), silver (Au), platinum (Pt) and many more and as well elite gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), oxygen (O 2), nitrogen (N 2) and many more from NEAs would help the society to reestablish the minerals that will be on brink of extinction in coming decade so as to provide the future peers with valuable goods. These minerals are vital resources of propellants, semiconductors, industrial metals and lively gases which could be used to produce goods that are economically very treasured and are very much required in space industry and manufacturing industry, thus expanding the economic boundaries of society. The paper also lays down the important aspects involved in deployment of the rover, landing at the asteroid and mission objectives relating mining. A general approach has been employed to accomplish the mining of an asteroid so as to curtail the complexity involved in space missions keeping in mind the economic margins and scientific competencies of present technology.

arXiv (Cornell University), 2018

Asteroid mining offers the possibility to revolutionize supply of resources vital for human civilization. Preliminary analysis suggests that Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA) contain enough volatile and high value minerals to make the mining process economically feasible. Considering possible applications, specifically the mining of water in space has become a major focus for near-term options. Most proposed projects for asteroid mining involve spacecraft based on traditional designs resulting in large, monolithic and expensive systems. An alternative approach is presented in this paper, basing the asteroid mining process on multiple small spacecraft. To the best knowledge of the authors, only limited analysis of the asteroid mining capability of small spacecraft has been conducted. This paper explores the possibility to perform asteroid mining operations with spacecraft that have a mass under 500 kg and deliver 100 kg of water per trip. The mining process considers water extraction through microwave heating with an efficiency of 2 Wh/g.The proposed, small spacecraft can reach NEAs within a range of ∼ 0.03 AU relative to earth's orbit, offering a delta V of 437 m/s per one-way trip. A high-level systems engineering and economic analysis provides a closed spacecraft design as a baseline and puts the cost of the proposed spacecraft at $ 113.6 million/unit. The results indicate that more than one hundred spacecraft and their successful operation for over five years are required to achieve a financial break-even point. Pros and cons of using small spacecraft swarms are highlighted and the uncertainties associated with cost and profit of space related business ventures are analyzed.

48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 2012

In situ resource utilization (ISRU) in general, and asteroid mining in particular are ideas that have been around for a long time, and for good reason. It is clear that ultimately human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit will have to utilize the material resources available in space. Historically, the lack of sufficiently capable in-space transportation has been one of the key impediments to the harvesting of near-Earth asteroid resources. With the advent of high-power (or order 40 kW) solar electric propulsion systems, that impediment is being removed. High-power solar electric propulsion (SEP) would be enabling for the exploitation of asteroid resources. The design of a 40-kW end-of-life SEP system is presented that could rendezvous with, capture, and subsequently transport a 1,000-metric-ton near-Earth asteroid back to cislunar space. The conceptual spacecraft design was developed by the Collaborative Modeling for Parametric Assessment of Space Systems (COMPASS) team at the Glenn Research Center in collaboration with the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) team assembled to investigate the feasibility of an asteroid retrieval mission. Returning such an object to cislunar space would enable astronaut crews to inspect, sample, dissect, and ultimately determine how to extract the desired materials from the asteroid. This process could jump-start the entire ISRU industry.

Earth and Space 2014, 2015

Several asteroids are the targets of international robotic space missions currently manifested or in the planning stage. This global interest reflects a need to study these celestial bodies for the scientific information they provide about our solar system, and to better understand how to mitigate the collision threats some of them pose to Earth. Another important objective of these missions is providing assessments of the potential resources that asteroids could provide to future space architectures. In this paper, we examine a series of possible mission operations focused on advancing both our knowledge of the types of asteroids suited for different forms of resource extraction, and the capabilities required to extract those resources for mission enhancing and enabling uses such as radiation protection, propulsion, life support, shelter and manufacturing. An evolutionary development and demonstration approach is recommended within the framework of a larger campaign that prepares for the first landings of humans on Mars. As is the case for terrestrial mining, the development and demonstration approach progresses from resource prospecting (understanding the resource, and mapping the 'ore body'), mining/extraction feasibility and product assessment, pilot operations, to full in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Opportunities to gather specific knowledge for ISRU via resource prospecting during science missions to asteroids are also examined to maximize the pace of development of needed ISRU capabilities and technologies for deep space missions.

2013

This paper presents the overall design of a small reusable spacecraft capable of ying to an asteroid from low earth orbit, operating near the surface of the asteroid and returning samples to low earth orbit. The spacecraft is in a 6U CubeSat form factor and designed to visit near asteroids as far as 1.3 AU from the sun. Deep space missions are traditionally large and expensive, requiring considerable manpower for operations, use of the Deep Space network for navigation, and costly but slow rad-hard electronics. Several new technologies make this mission possible and a_ordable in such a small form factor: a 3 cm ion engine from Busek for the low-thrust spirals, an autonomous optical navigation system, precision miniature reaction wheels, high performance and nontoxic green propellant (HGPG) thrusters, and Hon- eywell\u27s new Dependable Multiprocessor technology for radiation tolerance. A complete spacecraft design is considered and the paper includes details of the control and guida...

2013

This paper presents the overall design of a small reusable spacecraft capable of flying to an asteroid from low earth orbit, operating near the surface of the asteroid and returning samples to low earth orbit. The spacecraft is in a 6U CubeSat form factor and designed to visit near asteroids as far as 1.3 AU from the sun. Deep space missions are traditionally large and expensive, requiring considerable manpower for operations, use of the Deep Space network for navigation, and costly but slow rad-hard electronics. Several new technologies make this mission possible and affordable in such a small form factor: a 3 cm ion engine from Busek for the low-thrust spirals, an autonomous optical navigation system, precision miniature reaction wheels, high performance and nontoxic green propellant (HGPG) thrusters, and Honeywell’s new Dependable Multiprocessor technology for radiation tolerance. A complete spacecraft design is considered and the paper includes details of the control and guidanc...

Proceeding of the 67th International Astronautical Congress, 2016

This paper discusses factors concerning the architecture and operating procedure of an asteroid mining industry. The industry is designed to deliver water based propellant from near-Earth asteroids to customers in the geostationary orbit. A range of possible options are discussed for different elements of the architecture and operations of the industry. A transportation model of the industry is developed consisting of mining spacecraft, processing plants, and a transportation spacecraft moving materials between orbits. The model uses water based propellant derived from asteroid water-ice as the primary commodity, provided to customers in geostationary orbit.

2013

Part of NASA's new asteroid initiative would be a robotic mission to capture a roughly four to ten meter asteroid and redirect its orbit to place it in translunar space. Once in a stable storage orbit at the Moon, astronauts would then visit the asteroid for science investigations, to test in space resource extraction, and to develop experience with human deep space missions. This paper discusses the mission design techniques that would enable the redirection of a 100-1000 metric ton asteroid into lunar orbit with a 40-50 kW Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system. Nomenclature ΔV = change in velocity C3 = v ∞ squared I sp = specific impulse v ∞ = hyperbolic excess velocity

2016

The Formulation Assessment and Support Team (FAST) for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) was a two-month effort, chartered by NASA, to provide timely inputs for mission requirement formulation in support of the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) Requirements Closure Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) held December 15-16, 2015. Additionally, the FAST was tasked with developing an initial list of potential mission investigations and providing input on potential hosted payloads and partnerships. The FAST explored several aspects of potential science benefits and knowledge gain from the ARM. Expertise from the science, engineering, and technology communities was represented in exploring lines of inquiry related to key characteristics of the ARRM reference target asteroid (2008 EV5) for engineering design purposes. Specific areas of interest included target origin, spatial distribution and size of boulders, surface geotechnical properties, boulder physical properties, and considerations for boulder handling, crew safety, and containment. In order to increase knowledge gain potential from the mission, opportunities for partnerships and accompanying payloads were also investigated. This report and associated public comments will be used to support mission requirements formulation and serve as an initial inquiry to the science and engineering communities relating to the characteristics of the ARRM reference target asteroid. This report also provides a suggested list of potential investigations sorted and grouped based on their likely benefit to ARM and potential relevance to NASA science and exploration goals. These potential investigations could be conducted to reduce mission risks and increase knowledge return in the areas of science, planetary defense, asteroid resources and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), and capability and technology demonstrations. Participation in the FAST by non-civil service personnel was limited to providing non-consensus, non-voting input. This report represents the FAST's final product for the ARM. The ARM consists of two mission segments: 1) the ARRM, which will be the first robotic mission to visit a large (greater than ~100 m diameter) near-Earth asteroid (NEA), collect a multi-ton boulder and regolith from its surface, use the boulder to perform an enhanced gravity tractor asteroid deflection demonstration, and then transport the asteroidal material to a stable orbit around the Moon; and 2) the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission (ARCM), in which astronauts will explore the boulder and return samples to Earth. NASA originally proposed a robotic mission concept to capture an entire small asteroid (4-10 m in size) that would leverage several key ongoing activities in human exploration, space technology, and planetary defense. Subsequently, an alternate approach to collect a boulder from a large asteroid was also proposed. NASA evaluated both mission approaches to determine their feasibility, identify the important differences between them, and evaluate the key risks and figures of merit for each concept. On March 25, 2015, NASA announced the selection of the boulder capture option for the robotic segment of ARM. The ARRM is planned to launch at the end of 2020 and the ARCM is planned for late 2025. To achieve its long-term goal of sending humans to Mars, NASA plans to proceed in a series of incrementally more complex human spaceflight missions. Today, human flight experience extends only to Low Earth Orbit (LEO); should problems arise during a mission, the crew can return to Earth in a matter of minutes to hours. The next logical step for human spaceflight is to gain flight experience in the vicinity of the Moon. These cis-lunar missions will provide a "proving ground" for the testing of systems and operations while still accommodating an emergency return path to the Earth that would last only several days. Cis-lunar mission experience will be essential for more ambitious human missions beyond the Earth-Moon neighborhood, which will require weeks, months, or even years of transit time. A principle objective of the ARM is to develop a high-power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) vehicle, and demonstrate that it can efficiently move large masses and operate for many years in interplanetary space, which is critical for

2017

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) recently cancelled Asteroid Redirect Mission was proposed to rendezvous with and characterize a 100 m plus class near-Earth asteroid and provide the capability to capture and retrieve a boulder off of the surface of the asteroid and bring the asteroidal material back to cislunar space. Leveraging the best of NASA’s science, technology, and human exploration efforts, this mission was originally conceived to support observation campaigns, advanced solar electric propulsion, and NASA’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew vehicle. The asteroid characterization and capture portion of ARM was referred to as the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) and was focused on the robotic capture and then redirection of an asteroidal boulder mass from the reference target, asteroid 2008 EV5, into an orbit near the Moon, referred to as a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit where astronauts would visit and study it. The purpose ...