Mining in Zero Gravity Is a Speculative Design Project That Of- Fers a Vision of Our First Attempt at Mining Platinum Group Met- Als from Asteroids by the Year 2040

Home , 3554 Amun, Mars Society, Space industry

MFA DEGREE PROJECT 2018 MINING ADVANCED PRODUCT DESIGN Anders Sandström

With all of the challenges facing the mining industry today, in zero what would it be like if we look to the stars for our future mining prospects? gravity 2018

1 ABSTRACT

Regardless of new mining technologies and environmental regulations, the minerals we extract from the earth’s crust will eventually run out. Likewise, our society demands a constant increase of technology to improve our quality of life.

Mining in Zero Gravity is a speculative design project that offers a vision of our first attempt at mining platinum group metals from asteroids by the year 2040. Kolibri is designed within the boundaries of the future challenges facing the mining industry and the development of our space industry.

2 MAIN SPONSOR

Epiroc has a market-leading position as a supplier for rock excavation equipment, with 140 years of experience of innovating for sustainable productivity. After having worked and interned at their industrial design competence center, I know that they have an extensive knowledge in everything concerning the mining industry.

3 INDEX

INTRODUCTION IDEATION 08 Mining in Space? 40 Workshop at Epiroc 10 Challenges In Mining 42 Constraints 01 12 Designing Space Mining 03 44 Layout: Concept 1 46 Layout: Concept 2 48 Layout: Concept 3 50 Layout: Concept 4 INITIAL RESEARCH 52 Maintenance & Repair 54 Extraction 16 Challenges In Mining 56 Return 18 Future of Terrestrial Mining 02 20 Why Mine the Sky? 22 What Can We Expect to Find? 24 When Can This Happen? 26 How Will This Happen? EVALUATION 28 Why Platinum? 60 Concept Evaluation 30 An Ocean of Research Papers 62 Chosen Concepts 32 Interview with Adam Schilffarth 04 64 Needed Parts 34 Premise 66 Product Journey 35 Goals & Wishes 36 Conclusions

4 CONCEPTUALIZE REFLECTIONS & CONCLUSIONS 70 Mood Board 112 Goals & Wishes Fulfillment 72 Sketching 113 Work Process 05 07 114 References 116 Schedule

RESULT 76 The Spacecraft 78 Launch 06 80 In orbit 82 Departure 84 Arrival 86 Touch down 88 Mining 90 3D printed containers 92 Return 94 Layout 96 Anatomy 98 Repair from Earth 100 Exhibition 102 Physical Model 104 Renderings

5 01 INTRODUCTION

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Pixabay, - [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/art-astronomy-atmosphere-aurora-270829/ [Accessed 18 July 2018]. INTRODUCTION

MINING IN SPACE? Regardless of new mining technologies and environment regulations, the minerals we extract from the earth’s crust will eventually run out. One alternative is to look towards the stars for our future resources. Perhaps mining asteroids will be common within our society; perhaps it will be a stepping-stone between current and future technologies? Regardless we will most likely have to look off-planet for our material needs in the future. ASTEROIDS According to Planetary Resources, there are more than 16.000 near earth asteroids that contain the same minerals as our planet. Some also contain frozen water, which could be used to produce spacecraft propellant for further space exploration and sustain human life. It is estimated that an asteroid the size of a football field can contain more platinum than we have ever been able to extract from the earth throughout the history of mankind. There are an enormous amount of resources floating in space. What kind of effect would that have on our society? Will precious metals become commonplace and allow a huge technological burst in developing countries? If we mine off-planet will it help our world to recover from damages in the ecosys- tems? What would this mining process look like and what would it mean for a company like Epiroc? Most of all, how could industrial design play a vital role in this grand endeavor? At this point it is too early to speculate on what kind of product could come out of this project. It could be anything from a wearable, mode of transportation, exploration and excavation. There are a lot of possible product solutions and I intend to find one where my skill set as an industrial designer will be most suitable.

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NASA, (2015), Scandinavia at Night [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/top-15-earth-images-of-2015 [Accessed 18 July 2018]. Introduction

CHALLENGES IN MINING Meeting the increasing demands for metals also makes the mining industry one PRODUCTIVITY AND DEMAND of the most energy-intensive industrial Most of the easily accessible high-grade ores on the sectors. According to the International planet are on the verge of running out1. We have built Energy Agency, between 8% and 10% our civilization on the minerals that we extract from of the world total energy consumption is the earth’s crust and we use them in every aspect dedicated to the extraction of materials of our lives. Demand for the main metals that mod- that the society demands, and that num- ern society needs to produce goods has increased ber does not take into account metal- dramatically over the past few decades, thereby lurgical processes, transport and other increasing the extraction to meet this demand. mining-related activities. Despite stricter As an example, the cost of producing copper has regulations mining has a detrimental risen 300% in the last 15 years, while ore grade has effect on our environment and seems dropped 30% and demand has doubled2. like it always will. At least as long as we Mining companies are forced to dig deeper where continue to mine our own home world. minerals are more and more scarce and at the same RELEVANCE time keep the operations profitable. Also by dig- This is relevant for society since the cur- ging deeper and deeper the hotter the temperatures. rent mining industry is on a downward We are now on the verge of reaching depths where slope. While ore grades are declining, mines become a hostile environment for human life. costs are increasing and the ecological SUSTAINABILITY impact getting more severe, demand Our society is becoming more aware of the impact is steadily increasing. Our society is our industrial processes have on our planet and increasingly dependent on a functioning its climate. This has lead to stricter environmental mining industry, so what happens when regulations for the mining industry. Mining processes it no longer functions? Mining in space produce large volumes of waste, some of it highly will become our only way forward if we toxic. This waste can result in acid mine drainage intend to continue developing our society and groundwater contamination. Other problems with the same materials as today. include erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodi- versity, and contamination of soil and surface water by chemicals from mining processes3.

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Mariusz Prusaczyk, - [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/above-activity-aerial-colors-288096/ [Accessed 18 July 2018]. Introduction

DESIGNING SPACE MINING As an industrial designer I see it as my job to put the user in the forefront and Some people become doctors or nurses, some be- design solutions based on our practi- come police officers or firefighters. Some of the most cal and emotional needs. What would skilled people choose their profession based on em- it mean for the miner who is working pathy. That is why I became an industrial designer; in zero gravity far away from home or empathy. I may not be able to perform surgery and I perhaps the miner on earth controlling don’t think I’m cut out to handle what a police officer advanced machinery across vast dis- goes through, but industrial design is my way of con- tances in space? What would it mean for tributing to our society and the people around us. our society to have access to such vast The reason I chose space mining for my masters amounts of resources as well as a step- thesis is that it aligns very well with my design phi- ping-stone for further space exploration? losophy. Forward thinking ideas and projects that My hope is to show what space mining look long-term within future scenarios fascinate me. can look like, using human-centered de- The idea of mining in space may seem far-fetched, sign to make people think and talk about but when thinking of how our mining operations are how this future scenario might effect all affecting our planet and our finite resources, mining of us, and even become reality. in space is likely to become a necessity.

PROCURER X02 This is the result of a 50 hour assignment during my summer internship at Atlas Copco in 2014. The brief was to design a future vision for Atlas Copco where the end result is a detailed rendering of the product. I created the PROCURER X02, which is a space plane running on silicone oil. It’s purpose was to approach asteroids, bolt itself into its surface and tow it into a stable orbit closer to earth. The wings fold out to become solar panels and its fuselage serves as infrastructure for further mining operations when the asteroid is in place. I have always been interested in space travel and mining in space. This was just a quick and rather fictional attempt. I see my thesis as an opportunity to be able to really dig in to the subject and come out with a product solution that is inspirational yet anchored in facts and the latest research.

12 13 02 RESEARCH

14 15 CHALLENGES in mining

RESOURCE AVAILABILITY REGULATION PROCESS CONTROL With most of the easily-accessible As the regulations governing the Mining companies must employ a high grade ores almost tapped out, disposal of mining waste materials constant raw material analysis to companies are faced with the chal- become stricter, elemental analysis ensure accurate process control. lenge of either mining low grade is becoming more important in This is due to the fact that if the ore bodies or mining in difficult or the effort to reduce the release of composition of the ore body chang- remote regions.1 harmful chemicals.1 es, the extraction process will have to be changed quickly as well.1

16 AGING WORKFORCE WATER STRESS INNOVATION 2019 US mining industry will need Water has always been crucial for Innovation is a critical theme for almost 80,000 extra replacement the mining industry and its impor- miners. However, many mining workers due to retirement. In the tance is increasing exponentially. companies remain at the early end, the key objective for this Mining uses 1% of the total indus- stage of the adoption curve - plac- industry is to present itself as an try water usage and some mines ing most of their innovation focus attractive and exciting for career occur in areas under “water stress”. on technological optimization of old development.4 More strict regulations will ask for techniques rather than looking for better water footprint monitoring, new ways to configure and engage quality control reporting, contami- externally.5 nation control and mine closure strategy.4

17 FUTURE OF TERRESTRIAL MINING

REGULATION FINANCE PEOPLE Increased public awareness of Due to increasing scarcity of re- Today the mining work force faces environmental issues reflects in sources the profit margin for mines a generation shift. More people live a rise of environmental and noise narrows. Mines must now dig in urban areas than ever before. regulations. Third world countries deeper and use more sophisticated What will the future miner look like? tighten up the regulations to catch equipment to extract less ore than Where and how will she or he like up. How will this affect mining on or they used to. What will a future to work?6 off-planet in the future?6 mining operation look like?6

NON-MINERS ENTERS TRUST & TRANSPARENCY TECHNOLOGY THE BUSINESS With end consumers being more A long-time stagnation in develop- While miners struggle, others seize interested and able to track the ment can result in a “frog leap”. the opportunity. Big brand technol- provenance of the material of their Tougher competition can segment ogy businesses acquire mining goods, the most transparent and the mining market. If that happens, portfolios to deliver on a brand well behaved mining companies the need for integration and coop- promise that the minerals that go becomes the most successful. De- eration between different systems into their products are produced pending on the level of trust, mining can become increasingly stronger. responsibly. They have a lot of companies will either be ruled by capital and access to cutting edge third party oversight or trusted to 7 technologies.7 govern themselves.

18 BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY Blockchain technology will allow consumers to verify the provenance of the raw materials in their products. Discerning consumers are increasingly interested in the provenance of their products and are prepared to pay for it. Geo-tagged cubic meters of ore could also be digitally traded with before it has even been mined out of the ground.7

DRONES Drones are used to quickly map new mine areas, analyze mineral samples in real time, and optimize haul routes. They detect erosion, track changes in vegetation, and search for defects in mining infrastructure that may endanger the environment. They’re used for many of the high-risk jobs, such as transporting hazardous waste to dedicated storage facilities or checking for chemical contamination.7

AUTOMATION Automation is of high interest in the mining business. They could safeguard productivity by eliminating human errors, operate in high risk environments and operate in mines that are now too deep to support human life.7

3D PRINTING Spare parts can be created on the spot to maintain mining machinery, without the hassle of ordering and shipping and less halts in production. This can also enable mining operations in hard to reach areas where mines would need to be more self sufficient.7

19 why mine the sky?

EXPAND HUMANITIES PRESENCE IN A RENAISSANCE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY By developing new technologies to be Platinum group metals are not only used able to reach asteroids and the vast for jewelry because of their luster. They are resources they contain, we would most also important for our computer technology likely see a further expanse of the human because of their unique characteristics. With race in to the solar system.8 access to these metals we could potentially see a renaissance in advanced technology on earth. Not only in the developed world but in developing countries as well.8

FUELING STATIONS IN ORBIT FOR VAST ACCESS TO RESOURCES FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS WITHOUT DAMAGING THE EARTH Since there would be no need to bring When we can obtain our much needed enormous amounts of fuel into space, it resources from space, there will be no will be much easier to launch vehicles in need to risk the environment on our own to orbit. This will lead to greater possibili- planet to access them. We will see eco ties to explore other planets in our solar systems beginning to restore themselves system, and perhaps even colonize them. and greater access to fresh water for It will also usher in a new business with a other uses then mining.8 lot of potential for profit.8

20 WHERE ARE THESE ASTEROIDS?

ASTEROIDS Mars and Jupiter, which is pretty far away. However, In 1997 we were aware of about 33,000 asteroids in around 10,000 of these asteroids are what we call our solar system. In the past three decades that num- Near Earth Objects, or NEOs. These objects has an ber has increased enormously. In 2013 we had found orbit which takes them very close to our earth, even 594,705 asteroids. This number keeps increasing since closer to us than our moon. This means that they are 8 we are finding about 50 new asteroids every day. easier to reach then the moon, a place that we have NEO already visited repeatedly. The possibility of reaching Even though that sounds like a lot, most of them them does not seem so far fetched. are within the asteroid belt that stretches between

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

≈ 600,000 Asteroids STEROID THE A BELT

ARTH OB R E JEC EA T N S ≈ 10,000 Asteroids

You are here

“The earth is a crumb in a supermarket of resources” - Peter Diamandis | X Prize Foundation

21 howWhat can can it we be expect done? to find?

TYPES OF ASTEROIDS TO MINE reach yet we use earth based telescopes. Asteroids are classified in to different types depending on how So far I learned that Near Earth Objects are the much light they absorb or reflect, their spectrum. This easiest for us to reach and therefore to mine. The spectrum can then be used to determine what the question then becomes, what can we expect to asteroids consists of.9 find out there? Asteroids are then classified in to major categories Much of what we know about asteroids comes from and subcategories. I have gathered the three main studying meteorites that have fallen down to earth. categories that are the most interesting when consid- They can not give us a complete picture of all the ering mining operations in space. asteroids though. So to study the ones we can not

TYPE-C TYPE-s TYPE-m

Carbonaceous Chondrite LL Chondrite Iron Meteorite 20% Volatiles. “Dirty Ice ball” Rich in PGM’s Metals including platinum group metals

Type-C asteroids appear Type-S asteroids are Type-M asteroids are moder- dark through a telescope, much brighter and appear ately bright and contains metal/ which indicates that they “stony” in composition. metal-stone mixtures. Esti- are composed of carbon They are very high in plati- mates shows that the asteroid compounds.9 num content.9 belt has a billion times more metal than all the metal ore on RESOURCES RESOURCES earth.9 Water, metal, organic com- Platinum Group Metals pounds RESOURCES PURPOSE Iron, Cobalt, Nickel & Sell on Earth for use on Earth PURPOSE Platinum group metals Rocket propellants and con- sumables, metal for 3D print- PURPOSE ing. Making rubber, plastic or Manufacture large hardware in methane for rocket fuel and space, infrastructure, support CO2 for plants. colonization missions and for sale on earth.

22 ASTEROID RESOURCE POTENTIAL

3554 AMUN As an example to illustrate the resource potential When we can start to mine an asteroid like this, we of asteroids, here is Amun. It is the smallest known would be able to cover all of earths mining needs for Type-M asteroid and was discovered in 1986. This decades to come. Just imagine what we could do with illustration shows a comparison between the amount access to such vast resources. of resources in this one asteroid, compared to earths current output of the same resources.10

AMUN

earth’s output

IRON & NICKEL IRON & NICKEL COBALT $8,000 Billion $340 Billion $1,3 Billion

COBALT $6,000 Billion

PLATINUM $12 Billion PLATINUM $6,000 Billion

2,48 KM

23 when can this happen?

THE VALUE OF WATER IN SPACE Private companies, such as Planetary Resources, whose main mission is to start mining asteroids believe that extracting water in space is where it all begins. Many believes that the first thing to focus on is extracting water from Type-C asteroids. This water can be used as radiation shielding and life support, but more importantly, as rocket fuel. TRILLION DOLLAR The idea is to be able to make a profit by selling INDUSTRY rocket fuel to space stations, satellites and planetary exploration missions. This will mean that spacecraft who are leaving earth will need to carry a lot less fuel in to space, since they can refuel in orbit. This will make launching spacecraft much cheaper and more effective. It will also open up a completely new market, HUNDRED BILLION where space mining companies can earn a lot of DOLLAR INDUSTRY money to fund further technology and mining operations until they can eventually start mining for metals and minerals as well. TIME LINE Based on the amount of water excavated and traded with in space, Planetary Resources has estimated a time line of the progression of space mining. I was quite surprised when I came across this BILLION DOLLAR graph, since the estimate seems a lot sooner than INDUSTRY I initially thought. Between demonstrating the first water extraction from an asteroid in 2020, to a society travelling between planets in our solar system by 2055, is only 30 years.11 This means that we could actually be alive while our civilization spreads out across the solar system. Further more it also gives me a clearer picture of a possible horizon for my thesis project.

24 TONS OF WATER

1.000.000 Humanity Develops Robust Multi-Planetary Support First Private Transport Network Colonization Efforts

Arrival of Competing Water 100.000 Mining Companies

Supplying Private Mars Expedition

10.000 Preliminary Metal Mining Operation Support

1.000 Supplying NASA Exploration Missions

100

Boosting Satellites, Fueling Space Stations 10

Demonstration

1 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 2055

25 how will this happen?

POTENTIAL MINING SCENARIO 3. The swarm of satellites can map every millimeter of the asteroid 1. to give a detailed picture of what the asteroid looks like. It must Place a telescope in earth orbit to more easily be able also be able to claim or tag them in some way to spot Near Earth Objects and their composition. This way we will know which asteroids to examine first. 4. They satellites can also send small probes in to the asteroid to 2. evaluate samples and further determine its composition. Launch a swarm of smaller satellites to examine chosen asteroids more closely. A benefit in numbers 5. should some of them fail. The swarm of satellites must be able to evaluate the asteroid on site and can then send the information back to earth.

26 6. 8. When a suitable asteroid has been chosen for mining, a second, If the extracted minerals are volatiles, they need to be larger spacecraft is launched. processed to fuel and then sent to refueling stations in orbit. If they are minerals they also need to be pro- 7. cessed for construction or return to earth. There are a The mining vessel will approach the asteroid. It will need to be few ideas of how to send minerals back to earth, such able to anchor to it and de-spin and de-woble it, if needed. It will as pods and inflatable heat shielding. But my favorite then start to extract the volatiles or minerals it was sent there to idea so far is to print the minerals in to a foam material collect. It must be self sufficient and partially autonomous. It will and simply drop them down to earth. likely be able to create some infrastructure and 3D print parts to repair it self.

3 7

27 Why Platinum?

THE GOAL IS NOT HIGHER CONSUMPTION I chose to focus on Type-S asteroids, because they are the most rich in PGMs, and looked more closely at how we could use these metals. They are of course extremely rare and therefore very valuable. They are also essential for our computers and gadgets but also for more effective non-hydro electric generation and fuel cell-technology. Unlimited access to these metals could change world wide access to high tech solutions as well as our dependency on fossil fuels.

FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCY “Currently fossil fuels account for 81% of the world’s primary energy. We need afford- able renewable sources of energy, but non-hydroelectric renewable provided only 2% of the world’s energy consumption in 2010. They are too expensive because they rely on critical metals that are in short supply.”

33 % OIL 30 % COAL 24 % NATURAL GAS 7 % HYDRO 4 % NUCLEAR

2 % NON-HYDRO RENEWABLE

28 INTERNET OF THINGS “Within two decades there will be a global demand for over forty-five trillion sensors. This is formally known as the Internet of Things. The question then to ask is, where does the energy and resources come from to create these devices?”

SCARCITY “With current exploration and extraction methods, there are not enough raw materials present on Earth for the world’s current population to experience the quality of life of the modern developed world“

29 An ocean of research papers

The subject of space travel is naturally a research intense subject. Thankfully I found a virtual trea- sure trove of research papers and concepts on the NASA website. 3D PRINTING IN SPACE There is an enormous amount of research and concepts that has been studied with a large number of different collaboration partners. Many projects were unlike anything I had ever seen, such as the possibility of 3D printing infrastructure on an asteroid so that it could alter its orbit to come closer to earth using entirely analog mechanical systems. No computer power in sight. When reading this I stumbled across a company called “Made in Space” that has already installed a working 3D printer on the International Space Station. FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES Reading through a large amount of research papers was no small task. However it gave me great insights into what organizations and companies within the space industry are planning and what could be possible in the year 2040. I learned a lot about future solar panels, Plasma drills, propulsion technology, 3D printing, mining, habitats and so on. SPACE AESTHETICS I also gained insights in to the aesthetics of a future space industry. Since very few designers are working in this field, much of it is highly engineered. That of course works for an organization such as NASA, but – Microgravity Technology Demonstration: Stabilizing what happens when private companies get involved? the surface of an asteroid that can be hollowed out They are more dependant on the aesthetics of their for radiation protection of human habitats products ability to attract customers and investors. So even if no one will operate a vehicle in space, would it still need to be designed to look attractive and reflect company values when it is displayed in media and sales pitches? I think the answer to that is yes.

Credit: Scott Howe, JPL

30 –118

D.G. Andrews et al. / Acta Astronautica 108 (2015) 106

108

Fig. 1. Flowchart of celestial's overall mission architecture. Processing of multiple NEO's is supported in the design, maximizing profit for development.

A modular solar electric propulsion system attached to a Figure 2-6: Schematic of the Seed Craft Architecture. d. The common bus. Ahead of the bus are various modules for performing specific tasks required at the asteroi module is serviced by a common robotics traverse for transporting materials between operations. STOCKPILING MULTIPLE Fig. 2. Mining architecture flowchart. 2.4 MISSION IMPLEMENTATION— MOON LAGRANGE POINT https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20170003296Avionics were 2018-02-07T14:02:55+00:00Z from modern cubesats, power was advanced NEAS AT AN EARTH pulsion and gravity assists to fly (i.e. stirling cycle) RTGs using Cerium144 instead of the way Application: Printed Habitat Shells: - 2.1. Asteroid prospectors more expensive Pu238, and the propulsion was Electrode- On its maiden voyage, in 2038, the RAMA Seed Craft will use electric pro -determined orbit, is 36 less Lorentz Force (ELF) thrusters developed by Professors in towards and intercept Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2009 UY19 which has a well The asteroid prospectors were small, only 200 kg, so they our department and in life testing under USAF contracts. The 163 meters wide, and will be within 15 Lunar Distances (LD) of Earth in 2039 and approximately every 33

could be launched as shared payloads for a discount. The start of life power out of the ARTGs was 4 kWe, enough for years thereafter. After rendezvousing with 2009 UY19, the Seed Craft begins harvesting raw materials trips to the NEAs of interest. Trajectories were simulated plan was to launch several on available GTO launches and the raw material as using the NASA-developed Copernicus Program. Fifteen “ from the NEA’s surface and subsurface using ISRU .technologiesThe Seed Craft pioneered will refine by the NASA KSC then wait in orbit until the launch window opens for the Sinterhab Swampworks team and industry asteroid mining initiatives asteroid of interest. The design in based on the 1999 Lunar ” Prospector with updates in avionics, power, and propulsion. needed and use the resulting processed feedstock to begin manufacturing necessary mechanical components. As components are made and qualifiedriven attitudethey are control, integrated propulsion, into a large, energy complex storage, design, and which includes subsystems for mechanically d -flying autonomous navigation. Eventually, the asteroid itself becomes an autonomous, mechanical, free

Credit: Scott Howe, JPL

–118 D.G. Andrews et al. / Acta Astronautica 108 (2015) 106 Asteroid Habitat Concept110 Microgravity Technology Demonstration: Stabilizing the surface of an asteroid that can be hollowedAsteroid with Fig.out 6.powderLEO SOC configuration. for radiation protection of human habitatsregolith surface Fig. 8. Boring head for M-Type asteroid. Robotic mobility system placing grid of anchors

3D Automated Additive Construction technology hardens and stabilizes surface

Asteroid is partially Fig. 9. M-Type Miner COJNOPs (side view). hollowed out picked up by outbound ReNETs (hence the high altitude) to insure a nuclear safe orbit. This orbit is also above 99% of – setup and (b) miner module Fig. 7. (a) Miner module operations the space debris, simplifying operations. The SOC is both a harvest and transport. storage and transfer station for payloads trans-shipped out- Inflatable habitat inserted bound, and a cash cow to generate profits prior to product return from the asteroids. I was a principal in the 1992 [12] where TheSSTOhasaGrossLiftoffWeight(GLOW)ofCommercial Space Transportation Study (CSTS) and3,931,000 inflated lbm (1783 mT), a payload of 72,750 lbm (33 mT), the six major Aerospace Companies in the US joined forces and an empty weight of 288,000 lbm (130.6 mT). It is a to do an in depth look at what space markets would open if Vertical Take Off, Vertical Landing (VTVL) configuration built the cost of launch to orbit was reduced from the then almost entirely of advanced composites with a deployable, current $5000 /lb to as low as $200 /lb using a fully reusable Fig. 4 ) made from flexible inflated base re-entry shield (see Docking nodes, propulsion[11]. This launch system at high flight rates. TPS materials similar to those used on IRVE We interviewed hundreds of businesses and discovered systemsapproach allows for both low cost and the extremely low a huge pent-up demand for zero-gee research space where dry weight. proprietary techniques could be explored and utilized. This demand has never been satisfied because the ISS dis- 2.3. Space operations centers courages proprietary research. Our SOC was designed to meet this demand and guarantee low launch costs by the There will be two or three Space Operations Centers, one high flight rates associated with mining. Bigelow is cur- Credit: Scott Howe, JPL at 1000 –1300 km altitude and one at high altitude (e.g. L5). rently advertising a zero-gee work space for $25 M for 60 There might also be an optional SOC at GEO if the market days, and will probably get it. We were costing experiment � for space manufactured GEOSAT Platforms takes off. The lockers with support staff on orbit for $100,000/month. LEO SOC is where outbound payloads are assembled and

31 Interview with ADAM SCHILFFARTH Technical Business Development Director | Planetary Resources

THE VALUE OF WATER IN SPACE My mining vehicle on the other hand will be travelling to a Near Earth Object, which will be closer to I contacted Planetary Resources to obtain more earth than the moon, so the distance is not really information about mining in space, from a com- that great. My assumption is also that there will be pany who has made it their core business plan to infrastructure available in space by the year 2040 to do just that. refuel the mining vehicle. And when you can refuel rather easily, then spending more fuel to get there I got in contact with Adam Schilffarth who is the isn’t really a problem. It would be much more practi- Technical Business Development Director at Plan- cal to have higher impulse capability for this mission. etary Resources. I had already learned quite a bit I decided that sticking to the old fashioned propul- about their plans for mining in space but I wanted sion method make more sense for my project. to learn more about the details of how it could work when it comes to propulsion, refueling in space and MINERAL RIGHTS the legal framework that would be needed. There are currently no mineral rights for mining in When speaking to him I realized further just how space, which presents a problem. Currently you big this subject really is. There are so many factors would own everything that you remove from the that needs to be considered, such as how much asteroid, but there is no way to claim mineral rights weight we could get into orbit, orbital trajectory for a whole site as you can on a mining site on earth. design, where refueling of spacecraft actually would This means that no one is going to invest money in a take place and so on. I realized that there are a lot mining site on an asteroid, because there is no actual of factors that I simply would not have time to dig in site to invest in. to with the risk of having a very scattered final result. I believe that as we come closer and closer to This helped me further to narrow down my focus on asteroid mining becoming possible, the legal frame- the actual extraction of minerals from an asteroid and work is likely to adapt to allow it. Especially if as- what would be needed to get there. teroid mining would become a better alternative to terrestrial mining in 2040. PROPULSION The old fashioned way of propelling a spacecraft in space has been chemical propulsion, the ignition of hydrogen and oxygen to create thrust. At first I thought that I should look for something more new and exciting such as ion-propulsion or plasma rockets. However these technologies has a much lower impulse thrust, which means that they can go really fast, but need a lot of time to reach those speeds. This also means that they need a lot of time to slow down as well. For spacecraft going further out in the solar system, this makes a lot of sense since they also require less fuel to operate.

32 MINERAL RIGHTS CHEMICAL PROPULSION ELECTRICAL “There are no mineral rights “High impulse is always a more PROPULSION for asteroids, if there were, efficient way to utilize your “ION drives requires much there would already be many energy. And if you can refuel in less mass to reach the same exploration missions to space, it wouldn’t really matter if momentum transfer. But on the asteroids” you need more fuel” expanse of much less impulse thrust. This means that it will take you a while to get there”

33 Premise

LIMITATIONS MINING FOR METALS I decided that my project should be focused on To be able to decide the direction of the project, I extracting minerals, because It is more interesting for needed to limit the project within certain boundar- me and Epiroc to find a way of translating what they ies. Such as horizon, type of operation, and sur- know best how to do on earth, and move that in to rounding conditions. space, which is rock drilling. This opens up oppor- HORIZON 2040 tunities to look at mining in extreme environments, I decided to base the horizon of this project on the autonomous mining and machines that can directly year 2040. At this time we are expected to have be- evaluate mineral resources on-site. gun a new area of business by supplying rocket fuel in space. This also means that it is the perfect time to start mining for metals and minerals.

2040 REFUEL IN SPACE MINERAL RIGHTS INCREASED DEMAND Reusable rockets are We have thriving rocket The legal framework The worlds demand for now standard and we propellant business in has evolved to allow for rare earth metals have can launch more cargo space, where compa- mineral rights in space increased to a breaking at a cheaper price per kg nies offers refueling of point spacecraft in orbit

CLEAN ENERGY MINING IN DECLINE TECH IS A CLASS ISSUE Many advances has Depleting ore veins, High tech products that been made in clean stricter regulations and rely on PGMs and rare energy, but the required a lack of trust has made earth minerals are so minerals/metals are to mining far more expen- expensive that only the rare and too expensive sive. Profit margins are wealthy elite can enjoy to build them slim at best and inves- modern technology tors are backing off

34 Goals & wishes

GOALS & WISHES These are the criteria that the final design was supposed to fulfill, where all Goals are considered essential and Wishes are preferred, but not all essential.

GOALS

ASTEROID MINING VEHICLE DESIGNED TO MINE METALS AUTONOMOUS/ REMOTE CONTROLLED ANALYZE MATERIAL ON SITE SELF SUFFICIENT EMBODY EPIROC DESIGN VALUES

WISHES

ABILITY TO RETURN METALS TO EARTH ABLE TO CONSTRUCT INFRASTRUCTURE EXTRACT AND MAKE USE OF VOLATILES AS WELL

35 Conclusions

TERRESTRIAL MINING AND ITS FUTURE Having access to such vast resources could bring Terrestrial mining is facing a lot of problems. From a renaissance in our technological development on a lack in trust, tightened regulations, an aging work earth as well as making it a lot easier for us to spread force and a lack of innovation. More importantly out through our solar system. though, we are facing the risk of running out of easily TIME LINE accessible resources to mine. We are right now taking our very first steps towards When speculating the future, nothing can be mining asteroids and there are both private compa- certain, but it seems that these factors will only con- nies and government agencies involved. By compar- tinue to get worse. The up side is that new technolo- ing our development in the aeronautics industry, from gies, such as automation, tele-remote control and the Wright Brothers to a global business, estimates 3D printing, could help us mine resources that are have been made on how fast we will develop in much more difficult to reach. Regardless, mining only space mining. seems to become more and more expensive. It is The current estimate is that by 2055 we will have likely that we will find ourselves in a position where a stable trading network throughout our galaxy, with mining asteroids could be cheaper than mining on colonies and all, and the key to this is to start ex- earth. tracting water to produce rocket fuel. Personally I WHY MINE THE SKY? think it sounds very optimistic, although I do believe Presently we have found close to 600.000 asteroids we will be there at some point. However I am will- in our solar system, most of them in the asteroid ing to go along with this estimate for the sake of my belt just beyond Mars. 10.000 of these are called project. Near Earth Objects or Near Earth Asteroids (NEO/ SCENARIO NEA). These asteroids are on an orbit that takes them Everything needs to start somewhere and the cur- closer to earth than our own moon, which means that rent plan is to put a telescope in orbit. This would be they are easier for us to reach than the moon. used to find NEOs and estimate their water/mineral Asteroids contain the same building blocks as our content. The second step would be to send out small planet, but the difference is when our earth formed drones to take a closer look at the chosen asteroids. the heaviest metals sank to our core. Metals such as These would measure every millimeter of the NEA, Platinum Group Metals (PGMs). On asteroids howev- probe them to analyze material, claim them and send er, this has not been the case. The asteroids that we the information back to earth. are most interested in are the ones that contain water Third step is launch a larger spacecraft, send it to that can be used for rocket fuel, radiation shielding, the asteroid and start the actual mining process. This sustain human life in space. But also asteroids rich would need to be a completely self sufficient vehicle, in PGMs and base metals such as Iron, Nickel and that is partly autonomous, can create infrastructure, Cobalt. evaluate minerals and 3D print parts for repairs. The The asteroid belt is estimated to contain many last part is then to partly process these materials and times more minerals than the we could ever find here send them back to earth. on earth. An asteroid in the size of 500 meters in diameter could provide us with all the minerals that we would need for decades. So it goes without saying that the resources up there are plentiful.

36 37

SpaceX, [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-view-earth-exploration-flying-60132/ [Accessed 18 July 2018]. 03 IDEATION

38 39

Pixabay, (2018), - [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/analysis-blackboard-board-bubble-355952/ [Accessed 18 July 2018]. Workshop at Epiroc

To generate early concept ideas I had a workshop with my sponsor company: Epiroc BRAINSTORMING I had divided the workshop into three different topics; layout of the craft, extraction method and maintenance/repair. I wanted to keep this workshop very open and just let the ideas flow freely. After a while I noticed that it was a bit difficult to just stick to one topic at the time so I leaned back and just allowed these great minds to fire away. It was great to get ideas from people who are very experienced in designing for the mining industry and see how they came up with solutions when they had to put that thinking in to space. The workshop let to a lot of great ideas that I could later use to define the concepts.

40 41 Constraints

Before I continued to generate concepts I needed to make some decisions regarding the configuration.

With the facts that I had previously learned I defined the different parts of the ship that I would need to consider. I also realized that I would not need to explore all of them much further since the research had shown the best alternatives. I focused in on which ones I could establish already and which required more exploration

PROPULSION ENERGY CHEMICAL SOLAR REFUEL ON-SITE

4 Return TO BE ESTABLISHED

ESTABLISHED CONCEPT CONCEPTS TO EVALUATE

42 Control UPKEEP SEMI AUTONOMOUS 3D PRINTING SEMI AUTONOMOUS IN SITU MANUFACTURING

2 MAINTENANCE 3 Extraction TO BE ESTABLISHED TO BE ESTABLISHED

1 LAYOUT TO BE ESTABLISHED

43 1 LAYOUT: Concept 1 (Concepts are simple representations of ideas and do not represent the final design and form)

DRONES DOCKED TO SHIP

MINING VESSEL WITH HELPERS This concept is a mining vehicle where all mining equipment, processing, 3D printing and excavation is housed in the vehicle itself. It will have small drones that detaches from the main vehicle on arrival. Some of these drones will be able to collect volatiles that can be used for fuel and excavation, others will be used to maintain and repair the ship when needed. Simpler tasks can be performed autonomously, others can be performed with pre programmed directions from earth.

+ Main vessel can mine and drones can collect fuel and perform repairs + Mining operation in one vessel + Redundancy with multiple drones

44 SHIP MAINTENANCE COLLECTING VOLATILES

45 1 LAYOUT: Concept 2 (Concepts are simple representations of ideas and do not represent the final design and form)

MODULAR This concept is a modular vehicle that travels in one piece to the asteroid, then splits into different modules upon arrival. The different modules will perform different tasks such as excavation, processing, energy collection, 3D-Printing and fuel production.

+ Different units performing different tasks, such as extraction, processing and energy collection + A mining operation in one vessel

– Transportation of energy, ore, etc between different sites on the asteroid

46 47 1 LAYOUT: Concept 3 (Concepts are simple representations of ideas and do not represent the final design and form)

REBUILDS ON SITE This concept is a smaller vehicle with 3D printing and in-situ construction capabili- ties. It will collect base metals on arrival and use them to expand and reconstruct itself as a complete mining station on the asteroid. This means that we do not need to build a complete mining vehicle on earth and send it into space, but rather just the tools for constructing one. It will then complete itself on site with local resources.

+ Smaller vessel can be sent to the destination + Can expand itself on-site, using in situ material

– Depends on all needed material being available on-site – Might render the vehicle unusable for future mining operations on other asteroids

48 49 1 LAYOUT: Concept 4 (Concepts are simple representations of ideas and do not represent the final design and form)

MOTHER SHIP WITH SWARM This concept is a mother ship that houses all support infrastructure for mining, such as energy, maintenance bay and processing. It carries a large swarm of small drones that will perform the mining and excavation process, where many small operations together lead to a large whole.

+ Redundancy. One fails, several can replace it

– Could several small drones excavate enough quantities? – Perhaps a hive of drones requires a rather large mass to be launched into space

50 51 2 Maintenance & Repair (Concepts are simple representations of ideas and do not represent the final design and form)

I developed concepts to suggests how the min- CONCEPT 1 ing vehicle could collect water that can be trans- SMALL ROBOTIC HELPERS formed into propellant as well as base metals and regolith that can be used to 3D print spare parts. Also how the vehicle could perform routine maintenance and unexpected repairs.

As mentioned in Layout: Concept 1, the vehicle is equipped with small drones that performs maintenance on the main vehicle.

+ Can easily move around the vessel + Redundancy

– Extra weight into orbit?

52 CONCEPT 2 CONCEPT 3 ROBOTIC ARMS VISITING MAINTENANCE CREW/DRONE

In this concept the vehicle is equipped In this concept the vehicle is not with robotic arms that perform mainte- equipped with any extra drones for main- nance on the mining vehicle. tenance. Instead there will be a network of maintenance drones that visits different + Can be nicely integrated asteroids for maintenance and perhaps resource collection. – Low redundancy – Difficult to have robot arms that reach + Less mass needed to be launched in all over the ship? orbit at once

– Perhaps not economically viable

53 3 EXTRACTION (Concepts are simple representations of ideas and do not represent the final design and form)

Next I needed to develop concepts for how the CONCEPT 1 mining vehicle would be able to extract the de- PLASMA DRILL sired minerals and metals.

A plasma drill that will be able heat up the rock very fast so it cracks when it is cooled down again. Gas can then be used to flush the broken off rock into a collection unit.

+ Can dig deep with little equipment + No drill bit that needs replacing + Likely to work well in micro gravity

– Currently difficult to maintain direction

54 CONCEPT 2 CONCEPT 3 EXPANDING MEDIUM SCRAPE FROM SURFACE

A metal or fluid that can expand and In this approach the asteroid is excavat- contract depending on temperature and ed by scraping off rock from the surface. in this way crack the rock for extraction. Sort of like if you would keep pealing an apple until you reach the center. + Use access to extreme hot and cold + Homogeneous excavation – Mechanical parts that might need replacing – Might have to go through a layer of – Will perhaps use a lot of volatiles for regolith mining – Mechanical parts that might need replacing

55 4 Return

I also needed a section of concepts for how material could be retrieved back to earth to close the cycle of the mining operation.

CONCEPT 1 CONCEPT 2 RETURN VESSEL ISM CAPSULE

A vessel purposely built for Using 3D printing and local retrieving material to earth that base metals and regolith to is launched with the mining build return capsules with heat vessel. shielding in-situ.

+ Smoothly retrieve material + Less mass for launch + Can use in-situ material – Extra mass during launch – All mined metals must be – Needed material must be sent in one go available on-site

56 CONCEPT 3 CONCEPT 4 CONCEPT 5 RETRIEVAL TUG FOAM BALLS “SLING”

A network of support vessels, Platinum group metals 3D Constructing some sort of or tugs, that travels to asteroids printed into foam balls of 2 trebuchet, or canon that can to collect materials and send meters in diameter. They would send material back to earth. them to earth. travel so slowly through the Perhaps also using the spin of atmosphere that they would the asteroid. + Less mass for launch not need heat shielding. + Less mass for launch – Economic feasibility? + Less mass for launch + Can perhaps use spin of + Can be produced in-situ asteroid to sling material + Low velocity means no need + ISM possibilities for heat shielding – Accuracy? – No on board engine – Could slowly bring asteroid off course

57 04 EVALUATION

58 59

Startup Stock Photos, (2018), - [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/desk-office-workspace-collaboration-7092/ [Accessed 18 July 2018]. Concept evaluation

After having established the different concepts, I CHRISTER FUGLESANG sent them out to people who could evaluate and ESA Astronaut and professor in Space Travel suggest which ones could present the optimal solu- European Space Agency | KTH tion for an asteroid mining vehicle. Christer is a Swedish physicist and ESA astronaut who has visited the International Space Station ADAM SCHILFFARTH and made a total of five space walks. He even has Technical Business Development Director an asteroid named after him: 11256 Fuglesang. Planetary Resources LAYOUT, MAINTENANCE AND RETURN Adam works for Planetary Resources, which is a Christer thought that all of my concepts for the layout company based in Seattle, USA. Their core busi- were interesting but he believed the most in concept ness plan is to mine asteroids and/or the moon number 1 and that some of the thinking in concept for water, minerals and metals. number three could be combined. When it comes to maintenance he suggested REDUNDANCY AND 3D PRINTING that I separate the terms Maintenance and Repair. Adam asked that I consider how the spacecraft Maintenance being scheduled upkeep of the mining should be powered and suggested that nuclear vehicle and Repair being unplanned operations to power is very likely to be used in space in the year replace and/or repair things that have broken down. 2040. He believed that a robot arm that can “walk” along He also liked the swarm idea from the layout con- the hull would be the best option. Similar to what is cept number 4. Since even though NEOs are quite used at the International Space Station. close it is still to far to assume that we could have Concerning return he believed the most in a other spacecraft visiting the mining site on a regular combination of concepts 1 and 2. He suggested that basis. This means that the ship must be highly self- critical parts for a return capsule could be brought sufficient. When having a multitude of small drones to the asteroid, which means anything that is hard to working on a task, the operation is less likely to be produce on site. But that more simple parts such as affected if some of them malfunctions. the hull and fuel can be produced on site. He also mentioned that Planetary Resources has already been able to print simple structures with a powder grounded from a metal meteorite. So it is safe to assume that 3D printing capability will be possible at-asteroid in the year 2040. The simpler and “dumber” the structure, the better. He asked me to think of what types of simple structures that could be fabricated on site and which ones are far to complex to print locally.

60 Conclusions

After evaluating my concepts with these very skilled people I needed to make a few decisions. LAYOUT I decided to go with concept 1 for the GOSHA GALITSKY major part of the mining vehicle. But I also Industrial Designer (My mentor) decided to combine it with a bit of modular- ity from concept number 2 and 3D printing Epiroc Industrial Design Competence Center capability from concept 3. Gosha is an Industrial Designer at Epiroc and has many years of experience in designing mining ENERGY solutions, products and vehicles for terrestrial Adam told me that nuclear powered space mining operations. craft is very likely in the year 2040. I believe that but the ESA also launched a mission EXTRACTION METHOD to an asteroid that did just fine with solar Me and Gosha spoke more about the extraction power. Solar panels in general also become methods, since that is the expertise of Epiroc. I more and more effective with each decade, learned early on about plasma drills as a possible so I decided that my mining vehicle would solution that could be used for mining in space. utilize solar power apposed to nuclear They require no drill-bit that would need to be power. replaced on a regular basis, which is a huge benefit EXTRACTION on an asteroid where a mining vehicle has to be As I discussed with Gosha, I decided to use self-sufficient. There has been several tests done a plasma cutter that heats up an area of the with plasma drilling and it shows a lot of promise surface of the asteroid instantly, then cools for mining on earth as well. However it is difficult to it down quickly, which makes the rock maintain the direction which is a problem for terres- crack. It will perform this action across the trial mining. In this case we also thought that sim- surface to extract material. ply drilling holes straight down in to the asteroid is perhaps not the best way to extract minerals. In this MAINTENANCE/REPAIR way you would have an asteroid that is just full of Scheduled maintenance will be performed holes. But by combining the 1st and 3rd extraction by small drones on a regular basis. If repair concepts, we could have a mining operation that is needed that goes outside of the drones strips the minerals more homogeneously. It would programming, information will be sent to correspond to open pit mining here on earth and the earth. Repairs can then be performed in a machine would not be unlike a CNC milling machine VR environment and the instructions sent that strips the minerals off the asteroid layer by layer. back to be performed by the drones. RETURN To make the most use of the vehicle, the rear part of the craft will decouple to func- tion as a space tug that can transport in- situ manufactured containers back to low earth orbit.

61 Chosen concepts

CONCEPT 1+2+3 MINING VESSEL WITH HELPERS

A SINGLE VESSEL WITH A SPECIFIC PUR- POSE

CONCEPT 1 MAINTENANCE DRONES

AN EXTENSION FOR THE CREW ON EARTH TO BE ABLE TO PER- FORM REPAIRS MULTIPLE DRONES INCREASE REDUNDANCY

HUMAN CENTERED STORY LINE

OFFER MORE THAN JUST TECH- NOLOGICAL ESTIMATIONS

62 CONCEPT 1+3 CONCEPT 1 SURFACE MINING DRONE MINERS PLASMA DRILL HELP TO COLLECT VOLATILES

HOMOGENOUS MINING SIMILAR TO OPEN PIT MINING

CONCEPT 1+2+3 SPACE TUG FOR MATERIAL RETRIEVAL

WITH ACCESS TO PLENTY OF FUEL THE ENGINE OF THE SPACECRAFT CAN BE REFUELED AND UTILIZED AS A SPACE TUG TO RETURN MINED MATERIAL

63 Needed parts

When I had decided which concepts to move forward with I needed to map out the different parts of the craft that would have to be taken into account in the final design.

1 2 3

64 1. SOLAR PANELS 5. DOCKING PORT 2. PROPULSION 6. DRONES 3. RCS THRUSTERS 7. 3D PRINTER BAY 4. COM-SYSTEM 8. ACCESSIBILITY FOR MAINTENANCE

5 6 7 8

9. PGM CONTAINERS 10. RCS THRUSTERS 11. WASTE EXHAUST 12. EXTRACTION TOOL 12

Human for scale

65 Product journey

I also mapped out the different steps that this spacecraft would have to go through to reach the asteroid and mine the minerals. As well as the steps that would be taken when repairs need to be made.

REACH LOW DOCK WITH RENDEZVOUS ADJUST SPIN TO TOUCH DOWN EARTH ORBIT REFUELING STATION WITH ASTEROID MATCH ASTEROID ON ASTEROID

EXTEND SOLAR ACCELERATE TO ASSESS DETACH MINING ATTACH TO PANELS ASTEROID LANDING SITE VEHICLE ASTEROID

! MALFUNCTION

CONTACT MISSION SEND INFO TO PRINT SPARE OPEN ACCESS CONTROL MINING VEHICLE PARTS POINTS RE-DOCK DRONE

SOLVE PROBLEM RELEASE RETRIEVE DRONE FOLLOWS ON EARTH MAINTENANCE PRINTED PARTS MAINTENANCE PLAN DRONE

66 RETRIEVE DATA EXTEND COLLECT FREED RELEASE UNUSABLE RELEASE CONTAINERS FOR EXTRACTION EXTRACTION TOOL MATERIAL MATERIAL FOR SPACE TUG

RELEASE COLLECTION START SORT/SEPARATE STORE MATERIAL FOR DRONES EXTRACTION MATERIAL TRANSPORT/USE

67 05 CONCEPTUALIZE

68 69 Form mood board

I developed these mood boards to clarify my inten- Not to mention that it would be the first metal min- tions of the form language of the product. ing machine in space throughout human history. This Spacecraft are typically heavily engineered, there is means that Epiroc as a brand and the mining vehicle no room for form expression. But in this case when would see a lot of exposure in media. the spacecraft is produced by a private company and I chose the images and words for different as- ultimately a product that would be sold to space min- pects that I wanted the form to express. Optimism, ing companies, it needs to be more expressive. meaning that it would be a spacecraft of the future

OPTIMISM REALISM

70 with a sleek modern look. Realism in that I want it to that will accompany the ship. I do not want them to inherit some of the form language from past space look like human or animal robots, but I do want them ventures. And also not look too much like science to have some measure of character, since they will be fiction. I wanted it to look like it belongs in a near the extension of humans working with this machine. future. Industrialism meaning that it should also be able to express that it is a heavy duty mining vehicle. It should look robust and sturdy enough for mining operations. Character is more meant for the drones

INDUSTRIALISM CHARACTER

71 Sketching

72 73 06 RESULT

74 75 The spacecraft

EPIROC KOLIBRI AM260 The final result is a solar powered autonomous asteroid mining vessel. It is designed to be as effective as possible in a zero gravity environment and be able to sustain itself in a location so remote it is literally out of this world.

To ensure its self-sustainability it can use in-situ material to 3D print spare parts and containers. It is also equipped with drones that can refuel the ship by collecting water on site and perform maintenance and repairs.

76 77 LAUNCH

MINIMIZING LAUNCH COSTS The Kolibri is designed to fit in to the fairing of the NASA Space Launch System Block 2, planned to be in use by the year 2030.

The fairing of the launch craft is designed to help the spacecraft get through the atmosphere with as little drag as possible. When it reaches in to space, the fairing is blown off to reveal its cargo. The Kolibri conforms to the size of the fairing and is designed to use the space as effectively as possible. At this time the fuel tanks of the Kolibri is empty to reduce the weight needed to be launched in to space. To further reduce weight it is not equipped with any containers to hold mined materials either. It will instead 3D print these at asteroid with local materials. The reason for reducing the weight during launch is to minimize the launch costs as much as possible, making the whole mining operation more economically feasible.

78 32 m

10 m

79 in orbit

FUELING IN ORBIT By the year 2040 experts believe that we will have a reliable infrastructure in space for refueling space craft and satellites in orbit.

Once the Kolibri reaches low earth orbit it is refueled in space to be able to travel to its destination. It is re- leased from the launch vehicle, which has performed that task of getting it there. It extends its smaller aft solar panels to be able to power all necessary systems on its way to the asteroid.

80 81 DEPARTURE

RENDEZVOUS WITH THE ASTEROID

Once the mining vessel has been fueled it fires up its engines and performs an orbital maneuver. This changes the orbit of the vessel so that it can leave earths orbit and rendezvous with the asteroid.

82 83 ARRIVAL

ARRIVING AT THE SITE Next the extractor unit in the front will decouple from the main structure of the vessel. This is the only part When the mining vessel comes closer to the of the vessel that will be in contact with the asteroid asteroid, it will use its engines to adjusts its orbit for the purpose of removing rock and transporting it to match the asteroid. This will leave it hovering to the main vessel. Inside the main structure is where stationary above its surface. all the minded material is sorted, treated and stored. Since this mining operation takes place in zero Once it has arrived it will unfold its much larger solar gravity, there is no point in landing the whole struc- panels at the fore of the vessel. These will give the ture on the asteroid. This way the main part of the vessel enough power to run the whole mining opera- vessel can stay still, which will help to keep the solar tion. The solar panels are flexible and rolls out like a panels and other sensitive parts intact. That would be carpet, instead of folding out like a mosaic. This type very difficult if the whole mining vessel would have to of solar panels are currently tested by NASA and are move around on the asteroid surface. called Roll-Out Solar Arrays (ROSA).

84 85 touch down

THE EXTRACTOR The extractor is using RCS thrusters (Reaction Control System) to land the extractor on to the asteroid and be able to move around. Every foot of the extractor has hundreds of tiny hooks that can grab on to the surface, allowing it to anchor itself to the surface.

As the extractor touches down, a few of the drones departs from the main vessel to start collecting water. Many asteroids have a lot of water in the form of ice. This ice can be collected and processed into rocket propellant. It would also be used to create gas that can be used to transport the broken rock from the extractor to the main vessel through the hose.

86 87 MINING

THE EXTRACTION The extractor functions a lot like a CNC mill. It removes layers of the asteroids surface in patterns adapted to the landscape and mineral veins.

The design is based on plasma drills that are being tested and used in the mining industry today. A big advantage with plasma drills is that you don’t need any drill bits that will need to be replaced. It also achieves high voltage with low power. This is very useful in space, where it would be difficult to replace drill bits on a regular basis and low power require- ments would be optimal. A plasma drill works by having two electrodes towards the surface that creates an arc of plasma between them which heats the rock instantly. The heat is so instant that the rock cracks when it cools down again. On earth water is then used to flush the broken rock up through a pipe. Presently this has been used to drill holes but it has been difficult to drill straight with precision. The Kolibri would instead of having one pair of electrodes have an array of them at the bottom of the extractor unit. The idea is not to drill holes straight down, but instead to instantly heat up a larger area and break of the surface layer directly under the extractor. It then moves a little and repeats the process and in this way peals of the outermost layer of the asteroid. This process is reminiscent to how a CNC mill removes material or how open pit mining works here on earth. Instead of using water to collect the broken rock it could use a gas that is circulat- ing in and out of the extractor to flush the rock up the hose and in to the main vessel to be sorted and processed.

88 89 touch3d printed down containers

EPIROC KOLIBRI AM260 These containers are extruded between the engine and the rear section of the mining vessel, pushing the To lower the weight during launch the Kolibri does engine backwards. In this way the required container not carry any containers. They are instead printed space can be adapted to the amount of platinum from the aft of the ship using base metals and rego- group metals that are found. lith that is collected through the mining process. In- stead of throwing unwanted minerals away as much waste as possible is stored to print containers and spare parts.

90 91 RETURN

RETURNING THE PLATINUM TO EARTH Near Earth Asteroids has an orbit that takes them close to earth about once every year. That leaves a yearly launch window when materials can be sent back to earth.

The Kolibri keeps mining, collecting platinum and printing containers throughout the year when the asteroid is far away from earth. When the asteroid’s orbit brings it back close to earth again, the containers and the engine decouples from the mining vehicle. The engine has been refueled by the drones throughout the year and now functions as a space tug that brings the platinum back to low earth orbit. After leaving the containers it refuels and returns to the asteroid to dock with the mining vessel again. There it will be refueled and wait until it can return to earth with more platinum next year to repeat the cycle.

92 93 LAYOUt

LARGE SOLAR ARRAY WHAT IS WHERE A simplified illustration explaining where the dif- WASTE DISPOSAL ferent parts of the mining vessel are located. SMALL SOLAR ARRAY

ENGINE

CONTAINERS

3D PRINTER BAY

94 EXTRACTOR HOSE

EXTRACTOR HOSE WHEEL

DRONE BAY

95 Anatomy

MATERIAL PROCESSING A simplified illustration of how material moves and are sorted throughout the mining vessel.

DISPOSABLE MATERIAL

METALS / MINERALS

3D PRINTING

METALS / MINERALS

DISPOSABLE MATERIAL

96 STORAGE

STORAGE

97 REPAIR FROM EARTH

VR REPAIR Since the Kolibri will at times be so far out in space, sending communications will take up to 20 minutes to reach earth and 20 minutes to get back.

For this reason it will be impossible to directly control the mining vessel from earth, which is the reason it is autonomous and equipped with drones that can perform maintenance. If a malfunction occurs that is to complex for the drones to repair by themselves, they will send all the information back to earth. Once it reaches the control center on earth the information is uploaded into a virtual environment where maintenance crew can repair the ship, posing as drones. Since it is a simulation they can afford to fail and keep trying until they man- age to repair the malfunction. When they have a successful repair plan they can upload it to the actual ship. The drones then performs the repair by reenacting the repair plan created on earth. This image is probably not a perfect represen- tation of what virtual reality equipment will look like in the 2040’s. It is difficult for us to accurately predict what virtual reality will look like in the future. But it is safe to assume that augmented and virtual reality will become widely used in many aspects of our lives, from personal to professional settings.

98 99 Exhibition

UID DESIGN TALKS 2018 My exhibition space during UID Design Talks 2018.

100 101 PHYSICAL MODEL

UID DESIGN TALKS 2018 The hand made model that I created for the UID Design Talks 2018

102 103 RENDERINGS

104 105 106 107 108 109 07 REFLECTIONS & CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSION

110 111

Image Source: Pixabay.com, (2018), - [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/astronaut-33684/ [Accessed 18 July 2018]. GOALS & WISHES FULFILLMENT

At this stage I looked back to see if the original available to a larger number of the population. With goals & wishes I had were solved in the end. the added effect of solving some of the issues in our society, such as dependency on fossil fuels and When looking back I do feel that my project did solve scarcity. the goals that I had set out after my initial research. If I managed to inspire anyone with this project Another goal of mine that I did not specify in the is not something that I can answer at this point. Goals & Wishes list was that I did not want to design But I certainly hope that my vision of the future has a vehicle that would resemble a mining machine opened a few minds to the fact that there is a vast made for earth that is simply adapted for space. amount of resources out there that can make an Before I started this project I researched some of the enormous difference to the quality of life here on design concepts out there and many of them were earth. All we need to do is reach for it. just like that. I wanted this to be a totally different breed, one that was entirely adapted to it’s environment that is so extremely different from earth. To make use of the lack of gravity and materials on site to solve problems and keep the operation running. Since this is such a conceptual project it is difficult to say that I truly solved all the problems, because no one can really say if my solution is possible or not. I am speculating technologies of 2040, using technologies available to me here in 2018. But one thing that is more easy to predict is the society, since humans will always be humans. And I found that there is a lot of research that indicates that mining in space is not a question of if, but really a question of when. And when that happens, it could very much look like this and effect the society in the way that I predicted. This project involved searching and going through a lot of research regarding space travel, 3D printing and future mining trends. When researching such complex topics for an extended time, it’s easy to forget that all of this will not be as obvious for my audience as it may be to me. That I told the story around the mining vehicle and the society which it emerges from really helped me to explain this topic. Without the story I think I would have dug so deep in to technical solutions that it might have been hard to get the point across. My main goal with this project was really to offer a vision of a future society where abundance and technology can be more readily

112 WORK PROCESS

As I mentioned before, this was not a typical industrial design project, compared to my previous work. There was no user groups I could interview or test mock-ups with. Mining asteroids for metals has never been done, so there is no process in place that I could improve on.

But there were on the other hand a lot of enthusiasts that I listened to and some that I could interview. There was also a lot of research on the topic that had yielded very varied results and concepts in the past. The scope of the whole topic just kept getting bigger and bigger throughout the process. I learned quickly that I would have to narrow the project down and not attempt to solve the whole issue from launch until minerals are returned to earth. I had to make decisions and qualified assumptions that there would be infrastructure in space for refueling, that optimal orbital trajectories could be designed to get there and so on. My job was to design the vehicle that extracts the metal from the asteroid and I believe that I did just that. I often had to trust my intuition as a designer and keep moving forward. I have to admit though that designing a spacecraft is a lot of work and there are many factors to consider despite narrowing it down as much as possible. It often felt like I was cutting it very close a lot of the times and that I perhaps had taken on a little bit more than can be done in only 20 weeks. On the other hand I do not regret choosing this topic since I have a huge interest in it. It also gave me the chance to work with speculative design and tackle issues that comes with the territory. It has been a blast.

113 References

1. Chaffer, C. (2014, June 3). Key Issues Facing the Mining Industry in 2014. Retrieved from https://www.thermofisher. com/blog/mining/key-issues-facing-the-mining-industry-in-2014/ 2. Niju, B. (2017, November 21). Top 4 Challenges Facing the Mining Industry. Retrieved from https://www.rapidbizapps. com/top-4-challenges-facing-the-mining-industry/ 3. N/A. (2018, 5 February). Environmental impact of mining. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmen- tal_impact_of_mining 4. Mielli, F. (2013, April 24). Top challenges faced by the mining industry and its implications (Part 1). Retrieved fromhttps://blog.schneider-electric.com/mining-metals-minerals/2013/04/24/top-challenges-faced-by-the-mining-industry-and-its-implications-part-1/ 5. Deloitte. (2015, December 4). The top 10 issues facing mining companies in 2016: Deloitte. Retrieved from https:// www.miningreview.com/news/the-top-10-issues-facing-mining-companies-in-2016-deloitte/ 6. Galitsky, G. Industrial Designer M.F.A, Atlas Copco. (2018, January 24). Personal Interview. 7. PwC: Global Mining Leadership Team. (2017). We need to talk About the future of mining. PwC’s future in sight series. PDF Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/futureofmining 8. Diamandis, P & Anderson, E. (2013). We Solve for X: Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson on space exploration [You- tube]. Retrieved from URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVzR0kzklRE 9. Metzger, P. (2013, May 20). The Type of Asteroid to Mine, Part 3. Retrieved from URL http://www.philipmetzger.com/ blog/type-of-asteroid-to-mine-part-3/ 10. Miret, S. (2013, October 7). Planetary Resources – A Gold Rush To Space. Retrieved from URL http://berc.berkeley. edu/planetary-resources-a-gold-rush-to-space/ 11. Vorhees, C. (2013). Planetary Resources - Chris Vorhees - 16th Annual Mars Society Convention [Youtube]. Retrieved from URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFR_hCmhTz4

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JAN FEB MAR W. 03 W. 04 W. 05 W. 06 W. 07 W. 08 W. 09 W. 10 W. 11 W. 12

RESEARCH Desktop research Research visits Interviews

ANALYSIS Define mining operation Opportunity area Project definition Goals & Wishes

IDEATION Workshops Sketching Concept dev. Scenarios

EVALUATION Collaborators Professionals Goals & Wishes

DESIGN Concept refinement CAD Modeling Model-making Rendering

FINALIZE Presentation UID talks prep Report

Research Presentation Midway Presentation

116 MAR APR MAY W. 13 W.14 W. 15 W. 16 W. 17 W. 18 W. 19 W. 20 W. 21 W. 22

Process Final Report Design Talks Prep Gateway

117 ANDERS SANDSTRÖM MFA Advanced Product Design UMEÅ INSTITUTE OF DESIGN

www.sandstromanders.com [email protected]

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