Optimal Architecture for an Asteroid Mining Mission: System Components and Project Execution

Near-term self-replicating probes - A concept design

“…Authors such as Ross [71], Erickson [72] or Hellgren [73] outlined the use of different asteroid materials and their possible uses in spacecraft, as presented in Table 4: The technology needed to carry out asteroid mining is still underdeveloped. In the literature, however, several strategies for material harvesting in zero-gravity environments, which are similar to those implemented on Earth, are mentioned: drilling, blasting, cutting and crushing [73].…”