AbstractAsterAnts is a concept calling for a fleet of solar sail powered spacecraft to retrieve large numbers of small (1/2-1 meter diameter) Near Earth Objects (NEOs) for orbital processing. AsterAnts could use the International Space Station (ISS) for NEO processing, solar sail construction, and to test NEO capture hardware. Solar sails constructed on orbit are expected to have substantially better performance than their ground built counterparts [Wright 1992]. Furthermore, solar sails may be used to hold geosynchronous communication satellites out-of-plane [Forward 1981] increasing the total number of slots by at least a factor of three, potentially generating $2 billion worth of orbital real estate over North America alone. NEOs are believed to contain large quantities of water, carbon, other life-support materials and metals. Thus, with proper processing, NEO materials could in principle be used to resupply the ISS, produce rocket propellant, manufacture tools, and build additional ISS working space.Unlike proposals requiring massive facilities, such as lunar bases, before
returning any extraterrestrial materials, AsterAnts could conceivably begin
operation with a single spacecraft whose payload is no larger than a typical
inter-planetary mission. Furthermore, AsterAnts could be scaled up to
deliver large amounts of material by building many copies of the same
spacecraft, thereby achieving manufacturing economies of scale. Because
AsterAnts would capture NEOs whole, NEO composition details, which are generally
poorly characterized, are relatively unimportant and no complex extraction
equipment is necessary. In combination with a materials processing facility at
the ISS, AsterAnts might inaugurate an era of large-scale orbital construction
using extraterrestrial materials. |
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 N:Parker;L. FN:L. Clayton Parker (E-mail) ORG:SandCastle Contractors, Inc. TEL;WORK;VOICE:(850) 650-6588 TEL;HOME;VOICE:(850) 654-4773 TEL;CELL;VOICE:(850) 585-5502 TEL;CAR;VOICE:(850) 585-5504 TEL;WORK;FAX:(850) 650-6588 ADR;WORK:;;P.O. Box 1762;Destin;FL;32540-1762 LABEL;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:P.O. Box 1762=0D=0ADestin, FL 32540-1762 EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:lparker@cacaphony.net REV:20011020T212607Z END:VCARD