Strategy for mining an asteroid, part II

A new series.  Part 1 was here.

In the last post, I considered how to get to the asteroid, how to land, and then how to begin mining operations.

While browsing the web yesterday, it seems that the mining part may be more complex and time consuming than I thought.  You may need a lot of equipment and people.

Well, one of the ideas was to make something out of the iron and nickel.  The latest idea is to make living quarters for more and more people as you go along.

With all that iron and nickel, you can make a huge structure, but at first you only need to have modest quarters so you can get started.  The "mining town" has to grow.  It always must have a beginning.

In the beginning, you can carve out the insides of the asteroid and make the first living quarters out of empty space you dug out inside.  Perhaps you can place a living quarters on the surface with the excess metal that you dig out.  The dugout part will be expanded as you go along.  Living quarters eventually could be placed inside the mine.

As you hollow out the asteroid, more and more people could join in.  While doing this, you can begin construction of the massive torus.  This too will use the excess iron and nickel.  The torus would be about 2 kilometers in diameter.  Once it is completed, it can be spun up so as to create artificial gravity.  Only 1 RPM would be necessary for a structure this big.  The shell of the torus can be as thick as practical in order to shield out radiation.

Some practical considerations.  Number 1:  Where do you place this thing?  Do you build up on top, or how would this be done?  Well, I considered it this way.  Perhaps the "floor" would be on the surface of the asteroid.  You just lay down the floor around the asteroid, so that it will be on the surface.  Then, you can start building up the walls, and finally finishing with the ceiling above.

Such an arrangement may yield an irregularly shaped torus.  This may not be preferable, as it may have some side effects.  It should be nice and round, I would think.  So, at some point, it should leave the surface of the asteroid.  A perfect circular shape may not be possible this way, though.  Another possibility is to build an initial floor for a scaffold before you even begin construction of the torus.  The scaffolding should be extended upward at appropriate distances all around the asteroid so as to achieve that final circular shape which is desired.  Once the scaffolding in place, then you can start getting serious about the torus.

All the while, you will be pulling out the platinum and adding more people and equipment.  The progress will be slow at first, but it will accelerate over time.  Interest will increase as the shipments of platinum increase.  There will be interest in coming there to work and to seek one's fortune.  Trillions of dollars worth of metals is enough fortune for a lot of people.

Hmm.  A lot of people means government.  Well, why not make it the 51st state?  As a joke, you could call it "Elysium".

Part III