Asteroid Mining to Optimize Propellant Depot Costs

Develop an approach for characterizing the composition of asteroid for mining potential and a process for mining different compositions. Explore a possible division of labor involving different types of vehicles (e.g. sensor units, drilling units, power gathering and distribution, extracted resources handling and transferring). Consider solutions for moving said asteroids between different orbits and/or consequently make periodical adjustments to keep them in place. Analyze how your idea would cope in some of the given scenarios or outline a scheme of your own.

Exploiting the inherent advantages of asteroid mining and in-situ resource utilization to significantly reduce the long-term costs of operating orbital propellant depots.

General Concept

• Compact and Lightweight Sabatier Reactor for Carbon Dioxide Reduction
• OSIRIS-REx
• WRANGLER: Capture and De-Spin of Asteroids and Space Debris
• Mining Phobos and Deimos
• Small Satellite Buses
• Wikipedia: Asteroid Mining
• Giant Asteroid Vesta Surprisingly Covered in Hydrogen
• Near Earth Asteroid Scout (NEAScout)
• Planetary Resources: Technology

Potential Targets

• JPL Small-Body Database Search Engine
• NASA Ames Research Center: Trajectory Browser
• Solar system delta-V map