ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

I'm sure other brilliant people like me have thought of this idea, but it was more fun thinking it up myself and sharing it with my fellow geniuses right here on the New, Improved All Sci-Fi!

So, for your edification and amusement, here's the best way to take advantage of all those mineral-rich flying mountains out there in the asteroid belt. It's logical, it's exciting, and it's 100% pure American!

We just play baseball with 'em!

Massive spacecraft which are built to house a few thousands workers for an extended mission will travel out to the belt and then launch a few hundred scout ships whose crews are trained to find asteroids that show signs of containing deposits of gold, iridium, silver, platinum, tungsten and several minerals whose names I can't pronounce.

These scout ships are call . . . outfielders!





The outfielders are equipped with several sets of booster rockets which can be attached to the asteroids they select, and these boosters are programmed to "pitch" the balls of rock back towards the mother ship. These boosters can be controlled remotely to change the direction and speed of the asteroid, or even stop them in space.

After a few months, the mother ship starts receiving these visitors from all over the solar system and lining them up so they can be equipped with even bigger rockets for a longer trip.

Destination: Moon!

The mother ship sends them off towards the two lunar bases at the Moon's poles, where the complex process of extracting the ore can be done by the happy, hard-working Moon colonists.

The mother ship is called . . . (you guessed it) . . . the Pitcher!





These astrological "baseballs" can be handled in one of two ways when they cross home plate. Naturally the lunar colonies are called . . . (dare I say it?) . . . the Catcher!

Here's what happens to the asteroids when they "cross the plate".

(1) The big rocks could be parked in close polar orbits around the Moon so that the Moon Miners could shuttle up to them each day and extract the ore. Reusable habitats would be attached to each asteroid to provide enclosed work areas, and these habitats could be moved to a new area on the surface periodically as needed. After an asteroid has been "mined out", it can be boosted off towards the sun.

— OR —

(2) The asteroids being propelled towards the Moon from the belt could be decelerated and guided in for a relatively "soft landing" on the Moon in an area not too far from one of the two polar lunar colonies. Once on the surface they could be mined for the ore they contained.

The beauty of this idea is that the "soft landing" would often crack open the asteroids, making the extraction of the ore a bit easier!

Actually, both methods would probably be used. The largest asteroids would be placed in orbit. Their size and mass will make them difficult to drop to the surface because of the expense and the risk to the colony. However, if they're parked in orbit they would have just enough gravity to discourage tools, equipment, and workers from floating off into space.

The obvious reason that this kind of mining works so well with the lunar colonies is that the ore-rich rocks will come to the miners, instead of them having to travel all over the Moon to find areas worth mining!





These lunar colonies would eventually be encircled by asteroids on the surface which were dropped down into regions close to the colonies. A transportation systems could be built to convey the work crews to and from the mining sites, arranged like the spokes of a wheel which branched out from the hub to the ring of asteroids that were brought down.





These transportation systems would also convey the extracted ore back to the colony so it would be shipped to Earth.

Eventually the "first ring" of asteroids would become closely packed, and a "second ring" would be started. However, the existing spokes of the transportation system would simply be extended outward towards the second ring.

As technological advances in propulsion systems occurred, newly arriving asteroids could be delivered more gently to areas within the first ring again whenever old asteroids there no longer producing large yields of ore.

This procedure could eventually extend to the second ring as well, making our lunar colony a very lucrative and efficient self-sustaining community, generating enough wealth to fund an elaborate and hi-tech living area like this one!



Humorous Baseball Sidebar: A hardworking fellow could advance himself into a management position by moving up from the "miner leagues" to become a "major league miner".
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

There have been plans for ways to "mine the asteroids" presented in the past.



One very practical method involves "Prospector Ships" investigating and redirecting smaller asteroids (The greater the mass--size--the more energy required to alter their orbit) into a cis-lunar orbit.



From an cis-lunar orbital station the asteroid could either be directed to the Moon for processing or redirected to the Earth. Both would require absolutly accurate trajectory calculations.



Those asteroids sent to the moon for processing would have the processed material shot to the Earth by way of a mass driver. An advantage of this is only the desired material is transported.



One point to remember is that most materials found in asteroids already exist on the Moon as it has been bombarded by asteroids since its formation.



Mining the Moon is really as practical as mining the asteroids. Processed product then would be shot to Earth by mass driver as well.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.