>There's an adventure in there somewhere. A wild west adventure at that.
daryl, I like your train of thought. 8-)
On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 9:49 PM, <> wrote:
>
>
> That brings up an interesting thought...if a belter had his soc stat
> increased to the point that he owned 'land' ... Maybe that would be mineral
> rights to an asteroid belt?
>
> There's an adventure in there somewhere. A wild west adventure at that.
>
> Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
> ------------------------------
> *From: *Tim O'Reilly <>
> *Date: *Mon, 24 May 2010 17:30:28 -0700 (PDT)
> *To: *<>
> *Subject: *Re: [Traveller_TNE] Hector Class Mining Vessel - New Operations
>
>
>
> Points ... I thought it better from a technical viewpoint, and I liked
> the idea of the captain keeping his ears open for better prospects for him
> and his ship and crew.
>
> Your idea of a mining company owning the rights to an entire asteroid belt
> has some validity, particularly if they are out in the (wilds, frontiers)
> indeed if they find a particularly rich region they would likely try to
> harvest/mine/claim as much as possible before their success eventually and
> inevitably leaks out and the rush starts. (Just because they have title, at
> the moment, doesn't mean someone else won't try to move in on them) In more
> settled areas, portions of the belts might be considered imperial/crown
> property to be given over in some portion to a "deserving" individual or
> company that has curried or otherwise attracted favor.
> T
>
> --- On *Mon, 5/24/10, <>* wrote:
>
>
> From: <>
> Subject: Re: [Traveller_TNE] Hector Class Mining Vessel - New Operations
> To:
> Date: Monday, May 24, 2010, 5:43 PM
>
>
> Thanks. My basic idea was that a mining coorporation would own the mineral
> rights for entire asteroid belts. They wouldn't want to absorb the risk of
> mining so they would just provide an ore processing plant near the area of
> operations and contract out the mining to individual belters. Kind of like
> how lumber companies contract lumber jacks for the more dangerous areas
> today. I figured, right or wrong it's probably how things would develop.
>
> I liked the idea of 'shooting' asteroids back to the home world for
> processing, but there were just too many variables. Plus, why expend that
> amount of energy when, thanks to jump drives, you can place a processing
> plant closer to the source?
>
> Chances are this might take on a different form when mining in the same
> system as the homeworld, perhaps, but I was trying for a system of mining
> that was a little bit more mobile.
> Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
> ------------------------------
> *From: *Tim O'Reilly <>
> *Date: *Mon, 24 May 2010 15:29:05 -0700 (PDT)
> *To: *<>
> *Subject: *Re: [Traveller_TNE] Hector Class Mining Vessel - New Operations
>
>
> very nice write up, interesting concept of operations.
> T
>
> --- On *Mon, 5/24/10, Daryl Frewing <>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Daryl Frewing <>
> Subject: [Traveller_TNE] Hector Class Mining Vessel - New Operations
> To:
> Date: Monday, May 24, 2010, 1:33 PM
>
>
> In light of recent discussion, please replace the "Regular Operations"
> section with the following:
>
> Regular Operations
>
> Typically, the Hector does not operate in an asteroid field by itself. It
> does so with several other belters present and an ore processing plant near
> the area of operation. The area of the asteroid belt is divided into grids
> and each belter is assigned their own grid. It is the belters job to survey
> their grid and extract whatever rocks they want to be paid for, sending them
> to the processing plant which will track what asteroid came from which
> belter and add the value of the minerals extracted to the belter's account.
> Liquid Hydrogen is by far the most common element extracted and the amount
> extracted is added to a belters 'fuel card'. (This is the only element that
> the belters do not get paid for directly.)
>
> Fuel is the biggest concern for the Balaam (often referred to as the
> Frankenstein by the crew). Fortunately, they can always refuel at the ore
> processor. Generally refined fuel is purchased as it takes time (and,
> ironically, fuel) to refine fuel; time which could be spent searching for
> the 'big strike'. If the Hector is ever operating on its own, then the
> first thing it will scan the belt for is a large source of LyHd so that it
> knows where to go to refuel.
>
> If a mineral rich asteroid is discovered, the next step is to determine the
> mass of the asteroid, its vector, and its rotation. Once these are known
> the crew can calculate how risky it will be to first attach to the asteroid,
> and secondly alter its course towards the processor plant. Other factors,
> like the vector and position of other asteroids, could make retrieval either
> too risky or not profitable enough. The rotation of the asteroid in
> question is also of concern as the rock needs to be sent to the plant with a
> minimal rotation so its retrieval is not deemed to be a risk by the waiting
> ships at the plant.
>
> Once a candidate is found, the crew then needs to calculate the fuel needed
> to return to the processing plant to refuel and subtract that from the
> remaining fuel to see how much fuel they have to work with before they need
> to head back. For valuable finds, crews are often willing to make multiple
> trips back and forth in order to see the asteroid sent on a vector towards
> the processing plant, but the number of trips needs to be weighed against
> the average find for a single trip to determine if it will be worth it.
>
> Solo Operations
>
> As may be obvious by now, operating without a processor plant nearby is not
> nearly as efficient as having one there, but it still is possible using the
> jump-net coated ACT. In this case, the crew needs to establish a feasible
> location that can serve as a refuelling point (typically a large LyHd rich
> asteroid with minimal rotation). If one is not found, there is no point
> continuing in that spot and whatever is available must be used to refuel so
> the ship can move to another location.
>
> Once a 'base of operations' is established, the Hector can begin scanning
> for valuable ore. Because solo operations are very risky, time consuming,
> and costly only the most valuable of ore will be selected. Asteroids
> containing valuable ores will often be broken up (using a TL 9 laser) so
> that the lesser chunks can be discarded. The pieces of valuable ore are
> often set aside in a manner that does not make them stand out from the rest
> of the belt in case another vessel comes by with less then honourable
> intentions.
>
> Once 6,000 m3 of minerals is retrieved the Hector's crew heads back to the
> refuelling point and breaks off a large chunk of LyHd to add to the pile of
> rock. They then need to do a thorough scan of the area to make sure that
> hostiles are no where to be seen. This is because they are about to enter
> the phase of the operation where they are the most vulnerable.
> (Fortunately, an asteroid belt is a very big place.) They then wrap the
> minerals (not the LyHd chunk) with the ACT, give the mass of rocks
> (including the LyHd piece) a 'push' in the right direction, use the LyHd to
> refuel (the push they gave will have used up most of their reserves)
> discarding any remaining chunks, attach themselves to the mobile pile of ore
> using the ACT, and then jump to their destination.
>
> Because of the risks and costs involved, the Hector does not operate solo
> on a regular basis. However, it's captain has calculated how rich an
> asteroid belt would need to be in order to justify this and slowly trying to
> collect data about belts that are outside the area of operation of the
> mining company he normally contracts himself out to. He is keeping this
> information to himself.
>
>
>
>
>
--
The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to
think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.
Nikola Tesla