@sonhouse saidIrrelevant. If you want an asteroid you get it as close to home as possible.
@Metal-Brain
Well show us your orbital mechanics since you clearly are expert in this field, show us how much thrust and how long it takes to say get an asteroid into an orbit say 300 miles above the surface of Earth.
Lets say it's an small asteroid only 1 mile across, mostly metal so it is dense.
The best space craft is made by hollowing out an asteroid and go into the center of it. Then you have the thickness of the asteroid to protect you from radiation and the size to make an artificial magnetic field practical if needed.
Size matters.
@Metal-Brain
Ok, lets fly with that, say a mile diameter asteroid, you carve our all but say the top 30 meters so you have that much shielding. So a one mile asteroid would mass in at about 18 billion tons. Tell me how many trips would it take to carve out that much mass? Call it 15 billion tons so you don't do the whole thing but leave 30 meters of skin. Well, if you took out 1 ton at a time, that would only take 15 billion trips.
1000 tons at a time, a mere 15 million trips. The next question would be where do you put 15 billion tons of asteroid stuff?
@sonhouse saidAsteroid stuff is valuable. You could get rid of it easily enough though, if you really wanted to waste it. Attach it to the outside of your asteroid. In the hole part for radiation protection for your space ship inside.
@Metal-Brain
Ok, lets fly with that, say a mile diameter asteroid, you carve our all but say the top 30 meters so you have that much shielding. So a one mile asteroid would mass in at about 18 billion tons. Tell me how many trips would it take to carve out that much mass? Call it 15 billion tons so you don't do the whole thing but leave 30 meters of skin. Well, if you took ...[text shortened]... ere 15 million trips. The next question would be where do you put 15 billion tons of asteroid stuff?
You should use your imagination. Shoot some of the pieces away from the part you need thrust to stabilize the orbit of your asteroid around the earth. Smoke a Marley and get creative.
@Soothfast
Not talking about escape velocity, I am talking about the delta V needed to get that stuff somewhere useful say in orbit around Earth where it could be used to make cities in space or whatnot, or down to the moon for the same, assuming the stuff is iron and such that the moon would not have in abundance.
@sonhouse saidWho said the asteroid had to be a mile wide? I am sure you can find one smaller than that if you looked.
@Soothfast
Not talking about escape velocity, I am talking about the delta V needed to get that stuff somewhere useful say in orbit around Earth where it could be used to make cities in space or whatnot, or down to the moon for the same, assuming the stuff is iron and such that the moon would not have in abundance.
The moon has some asteroids under the surface. Havn't you noticed the craters?
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@metal-brain saidHaha asteroids under the craters that's funny, good one, MB.
Who said the asteroid had to be a mile wide? I am sure you can find one smaller than that if you looked.
The moon has some asteroids under the surface. Havn't you noticed the craters?
@Metal-Brain
What makes you think they would be in one piece? Do you have any idea of the kinetic energy of an asteroid say 100 meters in diameter crashing into the moon at 40,000 Km/hr? Or even ONE meter in diameter?
@sonhouse saidWhy would it have to be in one piece? It is there, isn't it?
@Metal-Brain
What makes you think they would be in one piece? Do you have any idea of the kinetic energy of an asteroid say 100 meters in diameter crashing into the moon at 40,000 Km/hr? Or even ONE meter in diameter?
@Metal-Brain
You are kidding right? it's there, mixed in with the regolith of the moon in little tiny ultraheating stuff more like melted glass particles. It's for sure not an asteroid any more. I gather you haven't looked at core drillings of Earth meteor and asteroid hits like Chicxulub that hit Yucatan 66 million years ago that helped off the dinosaurs?
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36377679
@sonhouse saidThe moon is not the earth. The moon has a super thin atmosphere and less gravity.
@Metal-Brain
You are kidding right? it's there, mixed in with the regolith of the moon in little tiny ultraheating stuff more like melted glass particles. It's for sure not an asteroid any more. I gather you haven't looked at core drillings of Earth meteor and asteroid hits like Chicxulub that hit Yucatan 66 million years ago that helped off the dinosaurs?
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36377679
I'm not sure what your point is. Are you claiming it is not worth mining asteroids on the moon? Even if so, that would make my original idea make even more sense. Either way you are going to eat crow on this one.
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@metal-brain saidOh nonsense.
The moon is not the earth. The moon has a super thin atmosphere and less gravity.
I'm not sure what your point is. Are you claiming it is not worth mining asteroids on the moon? Even if so, that would make my original idea make even more sense. Either way you are going to eat crow on this one.
You inferred in your comment that there were asteroids under the craters that we could dig out to make spaceships out of, like they were in one piece.
Only person gonna eat crow on this one is you.
@jj-adams saidNo, I said there were asteroids under the craters. And I never said they were in one piece. Not that it makes any difference. If you can dig deep enough you should be able to find some. I'm not suggesting anybody will be doing that in the near future, but something made those craters on the moon. What do you suggest impacted on the moon to make those craters?
Oh nonsense.
You inferred in your comment that there were asteroids under the craters that we could dig out to make spaceships out of, like they were in one piece.
Only person gonna eat crow on this one is you.
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@metal-brain saidYou were responding to a reply about using asteroids as space vehicles because of the protection they would give, saying that they didn't have to be a mile wide and that there were plenty of them under the moon's craters, what were we supposed to think?
No, I said there were asteroids under the craters. And I never said they were in one piece. Not that it makes any difference. If you can dig deep enough you should be able to find some. I'm not suggesting anybody will be doing that in the near future, but something made those craters on the moon. What do you suggest impacted on the moon to make those craters?