out of earth------Asteroid spaceships to help in off-planet mining

Asteroid spaceships to help in off-planet mining


American space technology development company, Made In Space, has envisioned a project that could turn asteroids into controllable spacecraft which can be used to reach mining outposts in space.
The project, known as RAMA (Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata), is part of the company’s vision to make space colonization and off-earth mining economically sustainable. The company was recently awarded NASA funding to take the program forward.
Jason Dunn, the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer, said, “Today, we have the ability to bring resources from Earth. But when we get to a tipping point where we need the resources in space, then the question becomes, 'Where do they come from and how do we get them, and how do we deliver them to the location that we need?' This is a way to do it.”
To turn an asteroid into a controllable body, a “seed craft” would be first sent to an asteroid from Earth. Using on-site 3D printing technology, the craft would harvest material from the asteroid itself and develop the systems to enable propulsion, navigation, energy storage and other key components, essentially turning the asteroid into a programmable spaceship. It would then be directed to a mining station in space.
The new approach is hugely cost-effective, as it would make the building of a new space exploration probe unnecessary. Still in its early stages, project RAMA may take 20 years to develop and Dunn expects the first “seed craft” may be sent into space in 2030.