It's off to Zeta Zkribbler VII

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Sandman
Is hollowing out asteroids within the realm of reality? I admit that it's one of my most hated sci-fi tropes.

We've mined the interior of the Earth's crust just fine for centuries. There's a mine in South Africa they plan to drill down to about 2.5 miles (currently 2.2) deep. I'm having a Hell of a time finding specific information, but I'm sure there are mines that also encompass dozens if not hundreds of miles of tunnels. For an asteroid, it's only a matter of scale. We have robotics now (ignore for a moment the costs of doing all this) that could be utilized to start the process, it would just take a while until we scale up our abilities; no fancy new-fangled technologies necessary.

[DRoseDARs]

Oh, and I'm not dismissing the utility of a space elevator. Even one would help out with any space en devour (well, it would help A LOT...) but I'm not sure building one here for Earth is a good idea given the current geopolitical climate.

[Drake Tungsten]

Bruce Willis could get the ****ing asteroid hollowed out in a couple weeks...

[DRoseDARs]

God I hate that movie. Low-brow redneck version of Deep Impact. Even having Aerosmith on the soundtrack couldn't save it from sucking Kinky Kelly balls.

[Drake Tungsten]

You thought Aerosmith would help?

[DRoseDARs]

Aerosmith

Steven Tyler

Drug-addled 80's Steven Tyler

Not being a fan of Aerosmith

[Flubber]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs


We've mined the interior of the Earth's crust just fine for centuries. There's a mine in South Africa they plan to drill down to about 2.5 miles (currently 2.2) deep. I'm having a Hell of a time finding specific information, but I'm sure there are mines that also encompass dozens if not hundreds of miles of tunnels. For an asteroid, it's only a matter of scale. We have robotics now (ignore for a moment the costs of doing all this) that could be utilized to start the process, it would just take a while until we scale up our abilities; no fancy new-fangled technologies necessary.

Oil drilling equipment can go at least that deep and with horizontal reaches in the range of 5 miles. So if you really wanted to ensure there were no subsurface surprises before you started digging, you would probably do some coring using an oil rig

This is AFTER you find it and lassoo it and bring it back to an earth orbit, right ??

[Sandman]

It's a bit like hollowing out a mountain instead of building a skyscraper. Pointless. Even once you'd braced it to stop it collapsing in on itself and sealed all the cracks, how could you ever be sure that it could withstand the acceleration without flying apart?

I'm not sure building one here for Earth is a good idea given the current geopolitical climate.

An orbital lift wouldn't actually cause much damage if it fell, if that's what you're worried about.

[Kuciwalker]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by Sandman
It's a bit like hollowing out a mountain instead of building a skyscraper. Pointless.[/q]

Not when most of your building materials are in a REALLY deep pit and it would take more energy to get them out than to hollow out the mountain.

Even once you'd braced it to stop it collapsing in on itself and sealed all the cracks, how could you ever be sure that it could withstand the acceleration without flying apart?

Either the asteroid will be strong enough to withstand it by several orders of magnitude or it won't be by the same, I'd imagine. It wouldn't be hard to predict.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Either the asteroid will be strong enough to withstand it by several orders of magnitude or it won't be by the same, I'd imagine. It wouldn't be hard to predict.

True. Most rocks can withstand 1 G. If you can get a constrant acceleration of 1 G --- or even the 1/10 G of an ion engine -- after awhile, you'll be movin'

[padillah]

Originally posted by Sandman
It's a bit like hollowing out a mountain instead of building a skyscraper. Pointless. Even once you'd braced it to stop it collapsing in on itself...

From what? It's own weight? It's in space!! It doesn't have any weight!

and sealed all the cracks,

Seeing how there's no negitive presure in space this should be easy enough. And all you really have to do is come close enough that the over-production of Oxygen by plants and veg. can keep up with the seepage.

how could you ever be sure that it could withstand the acceleration without flying apart?

How do they determine the space shuttle can? How did they make sure the Appolo and other vehicles can? How do they make sure that cars can? They model it and see what the physics say.

You don't think they just bolt a frame to a chassis and hope? Some of these cars go hundreds of miles an hour. Some can go from 0 - 60 in less than 4 seconds. I'd want to make damn sure the chassis stayed on.

And look at planes. Some of them do maneuvers that pull 6 - 8 or more Gs. They don't fall apart. An acceleration of 1 - 3Gs is not as big a deal as one might think.

Tom P.

EDIT: yes, I missppelled Oxygen. Big whup, wannafightaboutit?

[Asmodean]

Re: It's off to Zeta Zkribbler VII

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Let's say, astronomers located an Earthlike planet seven lights years away from us. And let's say, we wanted to colonize it.

What would be the best way to go about doing it? --Especially the propulsion system of the ship. (None of the SciFi fantasy stuff of hyperspace and warp drive .)

It could be done...probably...with a collective effort from the entire Earth. Exceedingly hard, but not entirely impossible.

But when we get there, we will find that the Drengin have already colonized the system the previous turn.

Asmodean

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Not when most of your building materials are in a REALLY deep pit and it would take more energy to get them out than to hollow out the mountain.

To stretch this analogy to breaking point, the equipment which is needed to hollow out the mountain is also in a really deep pit.

In all probability, most of an interstellar spacecraft's mass will be fuel, making a bulky asteroid even more unwieldy; why strain the engines carrying thousands of tons of useless rock?

How do they determine the space shuttle can? How did they make sure the Appolo and other vehicles can? How do they make sure that cars can? They model it and see what the physics say.

They're made of thousands of designed components that react in predictable ways when subjected to stress, heat, etc. You're better off in a metal building than a stone one during an earthquake.

[DRoseDARs]

On Earth, you're dealing with a lot of essentially unpredictable ground forces during an earthquake, that's why buildings are designed to withstand worse-case scenarios derived under controlled experiments to predict what forces and their magnitudes might be inflicted on the structure during an actual event. In space, you're only dealing with a few forces that have very distinct orientations and magnitudes. They're not going to seemingly shift randomly* this way and that.

(*Note: "Randomly" is a poor choice of word but I'm not sure what would be better. We know how various forces should behave, it's just a matter of what manifests during an actual event that's unpredictable until it's happening. In space you would not have as many surprises as you would on the ground.)

As for removing material, depending on your asteroid (or other available asteroids) you might be able to convert a goodly portion of that material into useful fuel, either as direct propellant or as fuel to create another type of fuel. You could just eject it (careful where you aim... ) but why do that if you can make it useful before that? Convert it while you're still in-system and still have access to solar power or even just move the asteroid into a closer orbit of Sol until you've mined and converted enough mass into usable fuel and empty interior space before the journey begins. No need to do in en route and well-away from any exterior help and supplies.

[BlackCat]

It seems that most people here worries about how to build a transport and get it there - just don't forget the small detail of landing and settling.

Unless you want to start at 4000 BC, lots of equipment and resources are needed and while it may be troublesome to get something up, it's equally troublesome to get something down (I assume it's supposed to be done safely)