On 23 Mar 2010 at 12:09, Michael Jenkins wrote:
> Wouldn't that disperse the rubble released from the asteroid?
>
> I think a method that cut manageable pieces that could be drawn into
> a mining scoop for processing would be the desired method. In the
> Traveller milieu, I see gravitic tech as the best way to draw in the
> ore.
Tractor beams are something like TL16. So they aren't going to be
used.
The big solar mirror idea you see frequently has problems as well.
Heat the material too hot and it will vaporize. And in a vacuum, the
vaporized atoms move in straight lines until they hit something.
Vaporizing aluminum in a vacuum chamber will coat things with
aluminum, for example.
Get too close to and asteroid that got just a bit too hot and you may
have a layer of silica or other minerals deposited on the side of
your ship that faces the asterooid. This would not be good.
Folks are going to have to either dig in (not terribly practical) or
cut it up into manageable chunks to process inside an enclosed
facility.
This may require a "bubble" over part of the asteroid (to contain
pieces including stuff down to gravel, sand and dust sizes) or even
around the entire asteroid.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Michael Jenkins
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> On 23 March 2010 02:47, Antony <> wrote:
>
> I was just wondering whether mining and exploration vessels owned by
> registered corporations/mining groups etc. Would be allowed to use
> nuclear warheads in mining operations? These would not be the TNE
> standard nuclear detonation types but conventional nuclear warheads
> either emplaced or fired using a missile into a small asteroid for
> example.
>
> KE missiles or a ships laser I think could also be used to hit an
> asteroid then the ships sensors could read off the "rocks"
> composition. NASA did something similar when they impacted a probe on
> a small asteroid.
>
> Incidentally if someone wants to metricate it GURPS Vehicle expansion
> 2 has a couple of possible ore processors in the Fuel Transfer and
> Processing section.
>
> Antony
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--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com