The only reason that China is the world's manufacturer is because they have a near-monopoly on rare Earth minerals. Every study I have seen regarding asteroid capture estimates ~3 TRILLION would be spent trying to haul one into low Earth orbit for mining, thus making it inefficient to capture the ~2 Trillion worth of minerals inside. But these estimates, by scientists, never take into account the resultant effect on the US economy. All they do is price the additional minerals as if the doubling or tripling of the world supply won't change the price, and certainly never take into account the resulting industrial and manufacturing boom.
To capture this asteroid worth 2 trillion, you have to spend 3 trillion. You would have basically spent 1 trillion (difference between 3 and 2), but in exchange the US has a monopoly on all rare Earth minerals. It doesn't matter so much exactly how much gold, for example, is in one of these asteroids. What matters is that the amount in one asteroid is double of the total amount of all gold on Earth. The estimates never take that into account, or the fact that the country that captures this amount can sell the mineral to their own private companies at a discounted price compared to all other countries.
When you have twice the lithium as the next country, suddenly you find your manufacturing jobs coming back because its cheaper to build in the US, because they have a monopoly on Lithium/Gold/Whatever.
Considering they landed spacecrafts on asteroids before, would it be possible to strategically land multiple thrusters on an asteroid and safely thrust it into earths orbit?
When it passes earth in 2029, it will be within 19,000 miles from the earth, what's stopping us from developing a method to capture it, and research it?
Roughly how many Meters per second do I need to capture this class of asteroid and put it around Kerbin?
Im kind of in a pinch as i have little fuel and am trying to colinize/capture and relocate a asteroid around kerbin, any tips? Edit: Succes!!! I have it in a 100km orbit above kerbin! Let the colonizing begin!!
So I need to capture some small asteroids. I've heard that it's way better to rendezvous with them outside Kerbin orbit, since it saves time and some Delta-V. I've managed to find some tutorials on how to intercept these asteroids before they enter Kerbin orbit. But all the tutorials assume that the asteroid is going to pass near Kerbin. The one I'm trying to intercept actually is on crash course. I've managed to understand that you have to be on an opposite orbit of the asteroid projected path (180º AN/DN). And that I have to exist Kerbin SOI exactly where the Asteroid will enter. That's pretty much all I've got since all the instructions I've seen assume that there is an periapsis on the asteroid path. And as far as I understand I had to allign my periapsis to that of the asteroid. So, if it's on crash course.... You get my point. Any hints?
I have a contract to capture and land a class A asteroid on Kerbin. So far so good. Docked and I have the asteroid in tow. I have circurarized around Kerbin. It's a class A asteroid so weighed 5 t. I thought using a command pod could land it without mining. Well it couldn't. So I sent a ship, docked and mined it dry. Asteroid weight showed 0.7t. At this point I had command module, parachutes (about 12), large reaction wheel, some solar panels attached. Just the basics. It still wasn't slowing down when I tried to aerobrake about 20 times. This is when I noticed under staging that the total weight of the asteroid and the command pod was about 160t. I undocked the command pod, showed as 8t. Asteroid showed as 0.7t. I docked again and the weight jumped up to 160t again. Am I going mad? Does the game think it's a class D asteroid? How on earth can I land it like this? I am losing my mind.
Serious answers only please
