Method, apparatus, and system for asteroid prospecting and mining
AssigneePlanetary Resources Development Corp.
InventorsEric Anderson, Peter H. Diamandis, Chris Lewicki, Chris Voorhees
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of prospecting asteroids for mining includes (a) launching at least one spacecraft, the spacecraft including a space telescope; (b) examining a plurality of asteroids using the space telescope to gather scientific data on the asteroids for characterization and cataloging; and (c) selecting one or more asteroids to mine from the plurality of asteroids examined by the space telescope and contained within the catalog. A system for prospecting asteroids for mining is also described.
Claims19
A method of prospecting asteroids for mining, comprising:
- (a) launching at least one spacecraft, the spacecraft including a space telescope;
- (b) examining a plurality of asteroids using the space telescope to gather scientific data on the asteroids for characterization and cataloging;
- (c) selecting one or more asteroids to mine from the plurality of asteroids examined by the space telescope and contained within the catalogue;
- and
- (d) flying the at least one spacecraft toward the one or more asteroids selected to mine from the plurality of asteroids.
A system for prospecting asteroids for mining, comprising:
- (a) at least one spacecraft;
- (b) a space telescope mounted on the at least one spacecraft, the telescope adapted to perform at least one of locate, identify, and characterize a plurality of asteroids;
- and
- (c) mining equipment located on the at least one spacecraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.