Ressource exploration in the solar system

I a short time ago began to wonder if ressources of heavier materials located NOt on Earth might have to be looked for closer to the sun merely than farther of it than Earth. Would extraterrestrial amounts of Uranium have to look vor on Mercury and Venus merely than on Mars or Moons of the gas giants?

Or does the theory that the giants have wandered towards larger distances from the sun make it likely/probable to a sufficient degree that heavier ressource can be found in the outer solar system?

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Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

To consider it might result in improved or additional criterions for the selection of sensors, detectors and the like for probes to be sent to other planets - as far as explorative equipment is thought about but not scientif instruments.

It could enhance the posibilty to do as ESA has done regarding Venus Express and Mars Express since both these vehicles have some identical equipment but combine them with non-identical equipment. If the identical equipment would be reusable and carried back to Earth this could save efforts.

To this the questions I am wonderung about here might add more savings of technological kind ...



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

Good points, but the only problem is that ESA and NASA are agencies of science and exploration, not of mining. So, in that sense, they cannot be interested in that. Otherwise they could have done a million usefull things on their spacecrafts long before.

But the biggest problem are the practical problems, we allready have the technology to scan the earth (and thus any other planet) for valuable materials. We just need to find a way to, for metal asteroids at least, mine a mountain of stainless steel. That's why everybody is looking for water on asteroids. They have simply no clue how to mine a mountain of stainless steel. Or they do and realise that it's hopeless Eother way, having lots of rocket fuel is great once we're a spacefairing civilization. But construction materials would also come in handy

Hello, Stefan,

yes, all this I am out on and even more.

I don't think that NASA or ESA are the right ones to do exploration for mining. The two Expresses of NASA I listed as examples only of how exploration technologies could be designed and kept cheap.

May be that ideas of this thread also might fit into the ideas of SpaceDev about mining asteroids for water as source of LH2 and LOX as propellants.



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

An article under www.wissenschaft. de is reporting today that the early Methane-producing bacteria needed Nickel to stay alive. They died when the amount of Nickel solved in the oceans decreased.

So I suppose if it turns out that the Methane found - for example - in the martian atmosphere is biologically produced then this might be a hint that there might be Nickel where the Methane is procued or released.

This aso might be applied if Methane woukd be found on icy moons.

The article I refer to refers to Kurt Konhauser, University Alberta in Edmonton, to Dominic Papineau and to Nature ( www.nature.com/ )Vol. 458 Nr. 7238, doi:10.1038/nature07858 .



What about such approaches?



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

The heavier elements would tend to be concentrated around the inner solar system, as when the planets were forming volatiles wouldn't have been able to condense at those distances. Beyond the frost line, however, water did condense. So if you're looking for water, look beyond the frost line. However, comets can come within the frost line and still have water, provided it's not exposed to the sun.