Strategy For Mining Asteroids, Part XVII

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In Part 10, I gave a thumbs up for an asteroid mission.

So, what do you do with it?

You could make fuel with it.  Then what?  Two options.

 Use that fuel for a Mars mission.

or

Use that fuel to go to the lunar surface to mine it as well.

If you can net more by going to the surface, the latter option looks better.  By more, it is meant that more can be accomplished with it.  What advantage is there to go to the surface and mine there?  You have to use precious fuel to get there and back.

I think that to go to the surface will net aluminum that will be useful for making a space sail.

The downside is that you have to have equipment to get that aluminum so that it could be sent back up.  The equipment has to be sent from Earth.

Meanwhile, you will be mining the moon for oxygen as well.  That will make the trip back up less costly, but the you need that equipment too.

While you're at it,  mine some silicon for solar panels.

So, to mine the moon means at least three pieces of equipment that must come from Earth.  In addition to the one piece to mine the asteroid.  That makes four pieces altogether.

If you aren't going to mine the moon, then you must go directly to Mars.  The question there is if there's enough to get you there and back?   Probably not.  You would have to mine Deimos for return fuel.

If I were to place a bet, the government will probably opt for the latter rather than the former.  The skills to mine Deimos should be about the same as for the asteroid at the moon, whereas, the excursion to the lunar surface would require landing equipment as well as mining equipment.  In other words, less equipment and less money.

Perhaps you could mine Mars for the aluminum for the space sail?  The moon would be a better choice.  You could build more infrastructure going back to the Moon, but you will end up with more capability.  For once you run out of asteroid, you will have to get another. That means frequent missions to replenish used up asteroids.  If you develop the moon, you get more mass to work with because the moon is bigger.

Each step has to yield more than the previous step.  So, which way is better?

It depends upon what your long term intentions are.  If you just want to plant flags and take pictures, then take the shortest route to Mars.  If you want to colonize, you may need to spend more money and make more infrastructure.

How that question gets answered, only time will tell.

Update:

If the idea is to mine asteroids, and get the added bonus of going to the lunar surface, why not collect 12 asteroids together and make a Moonstalk?  This will avoid the need to use propellant in order to get to the lunar surface.  It may be cheaper than going to the lunar surface immediately and set up mines there immediately.  Hold back on that until you've collected enough asteroidal material to make a Moonstalk, and then go to the surface with mined material from the asteroid being used as a propellant so as to make the anchor base on the surface so you can get your aluminum for the space sail.  At the end of the day, you've got access to the lunar surface, plus lots of fuel left for a Deimos mission.  After mining all those asteroids, you'll be plenty experienced at it when you get to Deimos.

Update:

The long term goal for space settlement should be to use as little propellant as possible.  Or to use no propellant at all.  For you can make a Mars stalk as well.   The space sail requires no propellant.  The idea should not only to gain propellant from each step along the way, but to get to the point to where you don't need propellant anymore.


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