Mining Magazine August 2016 | Page 21

LET ME PLAY AMONGST THE STARS
operate on their own – only phoning home if there are exceptional circumstances ” said Meagan .
In the quest to create a successful deep space resource economy , DSI is using decades of existing technologies to create innovative machinery . Calling on the experience of mining industry leaders and scientists to nail down the best possible ways to tap into the full potential of space . The processes are the same if not very similar , the tech is the same but more advanced , but there remains one crucial influence , and it ’ s an obvious one – gravity .
“ There isn ’ t much mass to an Asteroid , meaning they are held together very loosely . On earth you would drill down to get to the resources , if you drill into the surface of an asteroid all that would happen is it would push your spacecraft off of the asteroid – as there ’ s no gravity holding you to the surface ,” said Meagan .
An asteroid is held together by an electromagnetic charge , due to this smaller mass . Electromagnetic charges are damaging to electronics . DSI is approaching this issue and flipping it on its head , by considering not drilling at all .
“ If we can turn this charge into electromagnetism on an asteroid rich with iron , maybe we can turn this charge into electromagnetism and use these magnets to move resources around – removing the need to drill into the asteroid at all ,” she said .
Reach for the stars Like most of DSI ’ s approach to working in space , the ambition and drive is there . While it may be years or decades before a successful mining economy is established , the partnership with Luxembourg and Prospector-X represents a huge step in deep space mining , taking DSI one step closer to the vision that those 14 founders had when they came together – taking mining operations off of earth completely .
“ It ’ s unrealistic to think that humans are ever going to stop mining for precious metals , if we can take that off world that gives us a way to protect the planet in a very real way ,” she said .
“ There are a lot of things to work out before that becomes a reality , but we believe in a multi planetary species . In order to do that we need to have the supplies and the infrastructure to make that possible – that is DSI ’ s long term vision .”
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