Development of Asteroid Mining Concepts

摘要

Future large-scale space infrastructure such as satellite solar power stations and orbital hotels will require metal for construction, and water and other volatiles, for propellant. These can be shown to be retrievable at low energy cost from a subset of Near-Earth Asteroids. A small team of Australian researchers is developing concepts for mining these waterbearing bodies. A recipe for asteroidal matrix simulant has been developed, and the material is being tested for thermal and mechanical properties. The preliminary mining concepts and simulant testwork to date are discussed.