Vol 2 Chapter 757: An infinite asteroid belt!

He also understands the need to launch more detectors in the future. If you want to get the benefits, what if you don’t invest in the early stage, just throw a lot of money into it, because these investments will bring the company rich in the future. Return!
Where is the asteroid belt? Asteroids are the most important members of the small celestial bodies in the solar system, mainly composed of rocks and non-volatile materials.
The main asteroid belt is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter at a distance of 2.3 to 3.3 AU from the sun. They are believed to be the residual material that was disturbed by Jupiter's gravity during the formation of the solar system and failed to aggregate.
The scales of asteroids range from hundreds of kilometers to as small as microns. Except for the largest Ceres, all asteroids are classified as small celestial bodies in the solar system, but there are a few asteroids, such as Vesta and Miracle, if it can be confirmed that they have reached a state of hydrostatic equilibrium. Will be reclassified as dwarf planets.
The asteroid belt contains tens of thousands, possibly as many as millions of small celestial bodies with a diameter of more than one kilometer. Nevertheless, the total mass of the asteroid belt is still impossible to reach one thousandth of the mass of the earth.
At first glance, this number seems to be very small, but you may not notice the weight of the earth we live on. The mass of the earth is 5.965×10^24kg, which is 60 trillion tons, even the asteroid belt. The total weight is only one ten thousandth of the earth, so its mass is also 6 billion billion tons!
With the science and technology that we humans currently master, most of the materials in it can be used. Think about the benefits of it!
The asteroid belt contains two main types of asteroids. At the outer edge of the asteroid belt, near the orbit of Jupiter, there are mainly carbon-rich C-type asteroids, which account for more than 75% of the total.
Compared with other asteroids, they are reddish in color and have very low albedo. The surface composition is similar to that of carbon meteorites. The chemical composition and spectral characteristics are in the early stage of the solar system, but they lack some lighter and volatile substances. Like ice!
Not to mention the importance of ice to space exploration, everyone knows that even if only an icy asteroid is pulled to Mars, it can provide a source of life for future Martian colonies, which is more expensive than a long voyage. The price is much better to send a little water from the earth to Mars, after all, only with enough water sources can a true colonization be sustained!
The inner part of the asteroid belt is 2.5 astronomical units away from the sun. Silicon-containing S-type asteroids are more common. The spectrum shows that the surface contains silicates and some metals, but the composition of carbon compounds is not obvious.
This shows that they are significantly different in composition from the original solar system, which may be the result of differentiation due to the melting mechanism of the early solar system. Compared with C-type asteroids, such asteroids have high reflectivity. It accounts for about 17% of the entire population of the asteroid belt.
There is also a third type of asteroids, M-type asteroids accounting for about 10% of the total. Their spectra contain iron-nickel-like lines, which appear white or slightly red, without the characteristics of absorption lines.
M-type asteroids are speculated to be formed by a devastating impact with iron-nickel core as the main matrix. In the main belt, M-type asteroids are mainly distributed in orbits with a semi-major axis of 2.7 AU.
These asteroids are the ones that make people jealous. What is the most valuable thing in space? It must be these metal substances!
If the resources of the universe are compared to a large supermarket, the weight of the earth can only be regarded as the size of breadcrumbs. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States once estimated that if the mineral wealth contained on the asteroids in the asteroid belt is divided equally among the 6 billion people on the earth, each person can get more than US$100 billion.
A website called "Planet Ranking" evaluated the value of 580,000 known asteroids. Among them, the highest estimated value is "241 Germania". The mineral resources on it are worth 95.8 trillion U.S. dollars, which is almost the same as last year's global GDP!
And these valuable things are temptation there. Infinite Gravity Group is not the first company that wants to work on them. Many companies in the world have planned to go to asteroids to bring these resources, but they are all currently seen. It's just thinking about it, the technical strength is not up to it, and it's worth thinking about it!
Even if the Infinite Gravity Group already has this plan, if it really wants to complete the first asteroid belt mining plan, it will take at least several years to prepare. It will take a long time to explore the asteroid belt, and there are options later. The right asteroid and what technology to use to pull it near Mars or the moon all need to be done step by step.
If there is a mistake that causes the asteroid's orbit to align with the earth, the fun will be great, so even if you want to engage in such resource mining, there are many things to consider.
Of course, the economic benefits and significance of the space program of Infinite Gravity Group are extraordinary ~ EbookFREE.me ~ This step is also necessary for the company.
Take the most basic carrying capacity. Even if the rocket carrying capacity of the Infinite Gravity Group is doubled, the weight of materials that can be transported to space at one time will not exceed 200 tons.
And the cost of transporting these materials is at least 30 million U.S. dollars, an average of 150,000 U.S. dollars per ton. This is the internal price of Infinite Gravity Group. You can't even talk about the external quotation of 300 million U.S. dollars!
And how many metal-based asteroids in the asteroid belt? At least 100,000! For those weighing more than 100,000 tons, there are 10,000 more!
Not to mention other metals, just take the most common iron asteroids. After smelting 10,000 tons of iron asteroids, it is not a problem to have at least 50,000 tons of iron. It does not count the value of other iron. There can be at least 200 million. It seems that the money is not much.
But the value of these irons is not so calculated. It depends on where these irons are. They are very cheap on earth, but sending them to space will cost a lot of money!
Even if the Infinite Gravity Group wants to transport the 50,000 tons of iron from the earth to space, it will need at least $7.5 billion! Not to mention other countries or companies, maybe 50 billion dollars will not be able to complete this launch mission!
It doesn’t matter if money is not money. After all, even if it’s 7.5 billion US dollars, it will pass with the current capital of Infinite Gravity Group. However, the time cost must be considered here. Even if it is 200 tons at a time, 50,000 tons will be 250 launches, 2 launches a day, it would take 125 days to complete the launch! 4 months! ! !
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