What if we built an O'Neill cylinder?

5/16/24, 3:03 PM:

How much trouble would it be to mine 433 Eros?

It is a Near Earth Object, and potential hazardous object. It is also very rich in materials that could be sold on Earth. However, it would make much more sense to mine the asteroid for use in situ, since there is enough material to make many O'Neill colonies.

It was estimated to worth trillions of dollars. However, the mining of the object for that purpose alone is probably not worth it. But to combine it with planetary defense mission, and to whittle away its hazardous potential seems worthwhile. The materials brought back to Earth could help finance the enterprise.



11:48 AM, end update of 11:48 AM post:

Here's a possibility: Since transporting large amounts of matter requires too much rocket power, then why not re-shape and convert dangerous asteroids into way stations? The asteroid Bennu is mostly a rubble pile. It could contain significant quantities of water. If not, it is a carbonaceous asteroid that could be converted into a useful structure. It is about the length of the Empire State Building.

The asteroid was visited in the recently completed sample mission "Osiris-Rex". It is fairly close in astronomical terms. Anyway, having achieved its mission in getting the sample back to Earth, the same spacecraft has been diverted to another asteroid that may prove hazardous.

Might this suggest a way to deal with hazardous objects that could slam into Earth? Just mine them away for whatever useful materials they might have, and eventually the thing becomes non-hazardous. Or make some useful structures out of it. If Bennu has a lot of water and carbon, that might also be useful in making a lot of fuel for the next hazardous object to be dealt with.

Ground based observation for dangerous asteroids is very limited in what can be seen. Perhaps bases could be set up to observe more of the neighborhood around Earth by converting formerly dangerous asteroids such as these. In other words, planetary defense combined with mining for anything useful that could also be obtained.

end update of 5/15/24 post:

5/15/24:

If you run the numbers, it will become evident that this is an impossible task. The only way to get that much mass to even begin such a project would require some sort of mass driver that could send 1 ton of steel towards a LaGrangian point. That mass driver would have to go at a rate of 1 ton per second for over a million years in order to get enough mass even going in the right direction. Then it would have to be assembled or welded together continously for over a million years. After that, you'd have to stock it with an atmosphere, and some life. You could spend another million years doing that.

Not likely in this universe. Maybe in the Star Trek universe. The cylinders being discussed are much, much too large.