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A comment on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully returns from ISS resupply mission. Parent comment

Re:SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully returns from ISS res... by neolefty on Monday September 18, 2017 @09:51PM (#15281215)
Nitpick: Can you actually hollow out an asteroid? It seems easier to use it to build an independently hollow structure.

Asteroids probably resemble piles of gravel -- maybe with ice mixed in -- more than chunks of stone or metal.

Update: Yes, this bugs me about The Expanse books. Spinning up Ceres to provide internal gravity ...

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Re:SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully returns from ISS res... by TeMPOraL on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @04:37AM (#15282770)
> Spinning up Ceres to provide internal gravity ...

Spinning a rock can be done over long periods of time. In The Expanse, it was a decades-long project, that earned the Tycho Corporation some serious engineering cred.

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Re:SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully returns from ISS res... by lhopki01 on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @05:34AM (#15283033)
Spinning up asteroids can't be done. The speed you'd need for significant gravity would rip the asteroid apart.
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Re:SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully returns from ISS res... by TeMPOraL on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @06:19AM (#15283236)
[citation needed]
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Re:SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully returns from ISS res... by imron on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @04:53AM (#15282852)
> Nitpick: Can you actually hollow out an asteroid?

You'd probably need expertise in boring to pull it off ;-)

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Re:SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully returns from ISS res... by bane on Monday September 18, 2017 @10:34PM (#15281359)
It likely depends on the asteroid. They have very different compositions and densities.
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