Asteroid minelaying is one of those things that fathom good in rationale , but we ’re not sure how good it ’ll be in practice . However , one company in the US is take a leak headway with its own plan to make the musical theme a reality , and they ’ve of late announced a new charge .
The company is Deep Space Industries ( DSI ) , based in California . Earlier this twelvemonth , webrought you the newsthey wanted to launch a demonstration ballistic capsule , called Prospector - X , at some point in 2017 . Now , they ’ve revealed a novel mission to launch by 2020 that will natter an asteroid , called Prospector-1 .
“ During the next tenner , we will begin the harvest of outer space resources from asteroids , ” said Daniel Faber , chief operating officer of DSI , in astatement . “ We are change the paradigm of business sector operations in outer space , from one where our client carry everything with them , to one in which the supplies they take are waiting for them when they get there . ”
Prospector - X will be a diminished spacecraft that will test out various technologies for DSI , including a thruster powered by weewee called Comet-1 , using steam as a propellant . The ultimate goal for the company is to have a fleet of space vehicle that follow potential asteroids for utile resourcefulness , thing like atomic number 78 and piddle , which are then extract by other space vehicle . New laws passed in the USlast yearallow for such activeness .
Prospector-1 will be the first endeavour to review an asteroid by a secret company , using the Comet-1 thruster initiate by its predecessor . The spacecraft will be small , at just 50 kilogram ( 110 pounds ) when fire , but will load down the necessary official document to map the surface and subsurface of an asteroid . This will include take ocular and infrared imagination and chromosome mapping the asteroid ’s water system content from orbital cavity . The mission will close by touching down on the control surface to study the asteroid in more point .
“ The ability to locate , travel to , and psychoanalyze potentially rich supplies of blank space resources is critical to our plans , ” added Faber . “ This means not just depend at the mark , but in reality making striking . ”
The asteroid for this charge has not yet been selected , but DSI will whittle down a list of candidates to find the most suitable object . What the next step after this deputation will be is n’t clear at the moment , but maybe asteroid mining is n’t as far off as you think .
