Past, present and future rationale for space resource utilisation

Meurisse, A.; Carpenter, James

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2020.104853

Cited by 32 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…They have been observed individually but have never been observed simultaneously in the same atmospheric column before, as proposed by Su-perCam (Nair et al 1994;McConnochie et al 2018). Atmospheric CO, O 2 , and H 2 O are all potentially valuable for in-situ resource utilization (Meurisse and Carpenter 2020); O 2 variability and local-scale H 2 O temporal variability are poorly known and are affected by synoptic and global atmospheric circulation, sources and sinks. Additionally, the microphone can directly sample many atmospheric phenomena, such as wind (Chide et al 2020a), vortices or dust devils, etc.…”

Section: Science Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 96%

The SuperCam Instrument Suite on the Mars 2020 Rover: Science Objectives and Mast-Unit Description

et al. 2021

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On the NASA 2020 rover mission to Jezero crater, the remote determination of the texture, mineralogy and chemistry of rocks is essential to quickly and thoroughly characterize an area and to optimize the selection of samples for return to Earth. As part of the Perseverance payload, SuperCam is a suite of five techniques that provide critical and complementary observations via Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Time-Resolved Raman and Luminescence (TRR/L), visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (VISIR), high-resolution color imaging (RMI), and acoustic recording (MIC). SuperCam operates at remote distances, primarily 2–7 m, while providing data at sub-mm to mm scales. We report on SuperCam’s science objectives in the context of the Mars 2020 mission goals and ways the different techniques can address these questions. The instrument is made up of three separate subsystems: the Mast Unit is designed and built in France; the Body Unit is provided by the United States; the calibration target holder is contributed by Spain, and the targets themselves by the entire science team. This publication focuses on the design, development, and tests of the Mast Unit; companion papers describe the other units. The goal of this work is to provide an understanding of the technical choices made, the constraints that were imposed, and ultimately the validated performance of the flight model as it leaves Earth, and it will serve as the foundation for Mars operations and future processing of the data.

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Section: Science Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 96%

The SuperCam Instrument Suite on the Mars 2020 Rover: Science Objectives and Mast-Unit Description

et al. 2021

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“…The last power generation alternative are nuclear fission reactors [55], which make use of materials such as enriched Uranium and Thorium [56,57]. These materials, and those needed for RTG systems, were found in the surface of the moon [58,59] and Mars [60] and in meteorite samples [61].…”

Section: Power Generation Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In parallel to the theoretical concept development and fundamental science, the TRL of the critical technologies for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is increasing. Many ISRU concepts have been demonstrated as hardware in laboratories or with terrestrial demonstrators [55].…”

Section: Asteroids and Resource Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Near-term self-replicating probes - A concept design

Borgue¹,

Hein²

2021

Acta Astronautica

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“…However, due to technical, financial, and political challenges, commercial asteroid mining seemed to remain a distant fantasy (Gerlach, 2005). Nonetheless, the last few years have shown that asteroid mining is moving from a conceptual stage into a development stage, with a number of related companies emerging, aiming at commercial asteroid mining (European Space Agency, 2019; Meurisse and Carpenter, 2020;SpaceResources.lu, 2018). In the meantime, Earth-based observations and studies, combined with a number of missions to asteroids, have demonstrated that asteroids indeed contain vast quantities of valuable resources (Gerlach, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic assessment of high-thrust and solar-sail propulsion for near-earth asteroid mining

Vergaaij

McInnes

Ceriotti

2021

Advances in Space Research

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Asteroid mining has the potential to greatly reduce the cost of in-space manufacturing, production of propellant for space transportation and consumables for crewed spacecraft, compared to launching the required resources from the Earth's deep gravity well. This paper discusses the top-level mission architecture and trajectory design for these resource-return missions, comparing high-thrust trajectories with continuous low-thrust solar-sail trajectories. The paper focuses on maximizing the economic Net Present Value, which takes the time-cost of finance into account and therefore balances the returned resource mass and mission duration. The different propulsion methods are compared in terms of maximum economic return and sets of attainable target asteroids. Results for

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Past, present and future rationale for space resource utilisation

Cited by 32 publications

References 47 publications

The SuperCam Instrument Suite on the Mars 2020 Rover: Science Objectives and Mast-Unit Description

The SuperCam Instrument Suite on the Mars 2020 Rover: Science Objectives and Mast-Unit Description

Near-term self-replicating probes - A concept design

Economic assessment of high-thrust and solar-sail propulsion for near-earth asteroid mining

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