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Re:SpaceX craft overshot Mars’ orbit and is headed to astero... by TeMPOraL on Wednesday February 07, 2018 @11:16AM (#16325433)
Yup. Zero-g introduces absurd amounts of challenges, only showing just how much everything we've learned over past couple thousand years is dependent on living at the bottom of a gravity well.

For those curious about asteroid mining per se, there are plenty of ideas being prototyped right now - including the more obvious ones like two-part drills spinning in opposite direction, and the less obvious ones like using concentrated sunlight to heat up the asteroid and collecting the matter that outgasses from the hot spot.

Re:SpaceX craft overshot Mars’ orbit and is headed to astero... by le-mark on Wednesday February 07, 2018 @12:33PM (#16326260)
My pet theory: Giant kevlar bag, surround asteroid, embed explosives, pulverize, cinch bag tight: bag-o-gravel :D
Re:SpaceX craft overshot Mars’ orbit and is headed to astero... by TeMPOraL on Wednesday February 07, 2018 @12:45PM (#16326382)
Change "embedded explosives" to the concentrated solar light I mentioned, and you've essentially described a mission proposal that I've seen in a NASA report.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/eso_fin...

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