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Niac 2016 Phasei Dunn Projectrama Tagged
Niac 2016 Phasei Dunn Projectrama Tagged
m a d e in s p a c e .u s
©2017 M a d e In S p a c e , I n c .
A ll rig h ts re s e rv e d .
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“Those who control the spice control the universe.” – Frank Herbert, Dune
Many interesting ideas have been conceived for building space-based infrastructure in cislunar space.
From O’Neill’s space colonies, to solar power satellite farms, and even prospecting retrieved near earth
asteroids. In all the scenarios, one thing remained fixed - the need for space resources at the outpost.
To satisfy this need, O’Neill suggested an electromagnetic railgun to deliver resources from the lunar
surface, while NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission called for a solar electric tug to deliver asteroid materials
from interplanetary space. At Made In Space, we propose an entirely new concept. One which is
scalable, cost effective, and ensures that the abundant material wealth of the inner solar system becomes
readily available to humankind in a nearly automated fashion. We propose the RAMA architecture, which
turns asteroids into self-contained spacecraft capable of moving themselves back to cislunar space. The
RAMA architecture is just as capable of transporting conventional sized asteroids on the 10m length scale
as transporting asteroids 100m or larger, making it the most versatile asteroid retrieval architecture in terms
of retrieved-mass capability.
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This report describes the results of the Phase I study funded by the NASA NIAC program for Made In
Space to establish the concept feasibility of using space manufacturing to convert asteroids into
autonomous, mechanical spacecraft. Project RAMA, Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata,
is designed to leverage the future advances of additive manufacturing (AM), in-situ resource utilization
(ISRU) and in-situ manufacturing (ISM) to realize enormous efficiencies in repeated asteroid redirect
missions. A team of engineers at Made In Space performed the study work with consultation from the
asteroid mining industry, academia, and NASA.
Previous studies for asteroid retrieval have been constrained to studying only asteroids that are both large
enough to be discovered, and small enough to be captured and transported using Earth-launched
propulsion technology. Project RAMA is not forced into this constraint. The mission concept studied
involved transporting a much larger ~50m asteroid to cislunar space. Demonstration of transport of a 50m-
class asteroid has several groundbreaking advantages. First, the returned material is of an industrial, rather
than just scientific, quantity (>10,000 tonnes vs ~10s of tonnes). Second, the “useless” material in the
asteroid is gathered and expended as part of the asteroid’s propulsion system, allowing the returned
asteroid to be considerably “purer” than a conventional asteroid retrieval mission. Third, the infrastructure
used to convert and return the asteroid is reusable, and capable of continually returning asteroids to
cislunar space.
The RAMA architecture, as described in this report, was shown to be cross cutting through the NASA
technology roadmap as well as the future goals of the greater aerospace industry. During the course of
the study it was found that the RAMA technology path aligns with over twelve NASA roadmap missions
across seven NASA technology areas, and has the opportunity to substantially improve the affordability
and scalability of both the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) and the
Science Mission Directorate (SMD) stated goals.
The approach to studying this concept started with the development of Rock Finder, a rapid optimization
tool for identifying suitable asteroids for utilization. In parallel to the Rock Finder development, a trade
study was performed on various ISRU and ISM technologies. A technology roadmap was created to
identify suitable technologies for turning asteroids into spacecraft. Rock Finder was then used to identify a
single S-type asteroid, and a mission assessment was performed for a specific set of technologies,
showing the feasibility of performing a RAMA style mission with the asteroid. The end results suggest that
the RAMA architecture is a feasible way to automate a self-perpetuating suite of asteroid exploration,
discovery, and utilization missions within a twenty to thirty year time horizon, demonstrating a maturation
of the technology from TRL 1 to TRL 2.
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PROJECT RAMA TEAM
Supporting Roles
Phil Metzger, University of Central Florida – Phil brought his experience in ISRU and space resources
to the RAMA study as a lead advisor to the work. The RAMA team consulted with Phil on mission concept
design and resource mining options.
Andrew Rush, Made In Space, CEO – Andrew provided a role of ensuring the RAMA study maintained
alignment to the overall Made In Space business focus. His contributions were seen through in depth
reviews of work and connection to other Made In Space development programs.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
v
3.4.2 In-Situ Manufacturing Trade Study ___________________________________________ 41
3.5.1 The Far End of the Spectrum – Asteroid 2009 UY19 _____________________________ 50
6 Bibliography___________________________________________________________________ 74
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ACRONYM LIST
ABS Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
ADCS Attitude Determination and Control System
AGI Artificial General Intelligence
AM Additive Manufacturing
AMF Additive Manufacturing Facility
AREE Automation Rover for Extreme Environments
ARM Asteroid Redirect Mission
AU Astronomical Unit (Earth-Sun Distance)
C&DH Command and Data Handling
DMLS Direct Metal Laser Sintering
DRM Design Reference Mission
EBM Electron Beam Welding
FBD Functional Block Diagram
FSW Friction Stir Welding
GMAT General Mission Analysis Tool
GMAW Gas Metal Arc Welding
GNC Guidance Navigation and Control
GTAW Gas Tungsten Arc Welding
IOT Internet of Things
ISM In-Situ Manufacturing
ISS International Space Station
Isp Specific Performance
ISRU In-Situ Resource Utilization
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JSC Johnson Space Center
KSC Kennedy Space Center
LBM Laser Beam Welding
LD Lunar Distance
LENS Laser Engineered Net Shaping
LIDAR Laser Imaging Detection And Ranging
LOX-H2 Liquid Oxygen + Liquid Hydrogen
MT Metric Tonne
NEO Near Earth Object
NEA Near Earth Asteroid
NHATS Near Earth Object Human Spaceflight Accessible Targets Study
NIAC NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts
PMF Propellant Mass Fraction
RAMA Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata
ROI Return on Investment
RTG Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
SBDB Small Body Database
SEP Solar Electric Propulsion
SOA State of the Art
TCS Thermal Control System
TRL Technology Readiness Level
TTL Transistor-Transistor Logic
ug Microgravity
ΔV Change in Velocity
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1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The breakout into the High Frontier doesn’t depend on our being so lucky as to find the asteroids… but it does
depend on our working out the details of processing asteroidal materials to obtain from them pure metals, silicon,
and oxygen. – Gerard O’Neill, “2081: A Hopeful View of the Human Future,” 1981
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mining is guaranteed to be free of these costs, making asteroid resources “greener” than terrestrial
resources ever could be, regardless of future innovations.
For now, the cost to mine these asteroids is far more expensive than the cost of extracting equivalent
resources from Earth. But that will not always be true. In the next few decades, the convergences of several
exponentially accelerating technologies are expected to dramatically reduce costs for space resource
mining endeavors. Logically there will be a tipping point when it will become economically feasible to switch
to an off-world resource extraction and mining paradigm.
These observations are by no means novel or original [28]. But they have gained credence in recent years
as the aerospace community witnessed the birth and growth of several space resource exploration and
exploitation initiatives to capitalize on the opportunity. NASA’s path finding efforts in programs such as the
Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) have shown national interest and support, while commercial firms such
as Planetary Resources, Inc. and Deep Space Industries, Inc. have demonstrated that space resources
represent a financeable endeavor. Internationally, the government of Luxembourg has demonstrated this
fact with an investment of over $200 million in strategic space resource developments, and domestically,
the United States demonstrated its commitment with the SPACE act of 2015, recognizing property rights
to resources mined in space.
The value of mining asteroid resources is clear; but enabling such a mission requires solving many complex
challenges [21]. Furthermore, from industry research and technology roadmaps the authors of this report
believe that all but one of these challenges is being addressed by current asteroid exploitation initiatives
or from other crosscutting industries. The focus of this NIAC Phase I study is to solve the last challenge
on this list.
• Remotely mining asteroids without the need for humans – Advances in artificial intelligence
and robotics are on a steadily increasing curve of capability while on a decreasing curve of cost,
largely driven by advances in microprocessors.
• Data collection and asteroid detection – Improved sensors, Big Data computation capabilities,
and improvements in microprocessors will make for finding more near-Earth objects far more
efficiently than today.
• Launch and propulsion – Advances in both chemical propulsion technologies, reusability of
rockets, and new in-space propulsion technologies will make transportation to and from mining
outposts fit within the economic needs of an off-world mining infrastructure.
• Design – Generative design algorithms are allowing for new mission designs to be created in an
organic evolvable fashion. This in turn creates a more efficient design of both spacecraft and mining
infrastructure.
• Miniaturization – The rapid miniaturization of spacecraft technology will enable mining
infrastructure to be optimized for both low cost launch and scalable exploration. This will help
enable an increase in scouting missions.
• Transportation of asteroid resources – While there have been some concepts for how to
transport small samples of asteroid materials from its orbital location to a mining/manufacturing
outpost, there currently exists no method that enables the continuous, automated delivery of entire
asteroids from interplanetary space to a single mining/manufacturing location of interest. This core-
unsolved problem is the focus of the Project RAMA Phase I study.
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1.2 A VISION OF SPACE DEVELOPMENT
Since the beginning of the space race, the space industry has operated under a set of assumptions:
(1) All space missions start at the bottom of Earth’s gravity well, and are delivered to space on launch
vehicles employing chemical propulsion.
(2) Space missions are controlled from Earth, and cannot function without regular communication with
Earth.
(3) “Space Industry” means using space to produce data, not physical products (i.e. telecommunications,
remote sensing, Earth observation).
The later assumption is the one that will be challenged in the near future. Made In Space believes that
space will become a useful place to produce physical goods, to enable future jobs, and to expand our
global economy. The transport of materials (not just data) between Earth and space will open up a new
set of industries, in which space manufacturing facilities become a cornerstone of the expanded space
economy. The space environment will be leveraged in the production of equipment that can only be
produced in space. Microgravity (and partial artificial gravity) will be used to precisely control the
manufacturing of products made from exotic materials. Manufacturing processes that on Earth rely on the
costly use of inert gasses will be moved to space, where an abundant supply of vacuum can provide the
same effect. The heat dumped into Earth’s oceans and atmosphere will instead be radiated out to the
blackbody of the universe. With growing concern and understanding of Earth’s changing climate, it’s not
hard to imagine a point where large industrial operations are moved off-planet to avoid the chance of
environmental damage.
The challenge of the space industry lies in the preparation of meeting these future needs. Transportation
companies providing both up-mass and down-mass must be ready to handle the demand of transporting
both people and equipment to and from space. Advanced space manufacturing capabilities must be
available for the construction of both large scale space habitats as well as small scale precision parts. Life
support systems must advance to fully regenerative status to reduce the need for Earth re-supply. Energy
production and storage techniques must be ready to provide megawatt class power. And finally, the
resources of the solar system must be tapped to provide easy routes for this growth to take place.
Fortunately, these challenges can be solved by the clever adaption of technologies under development on
Earth right now. For many decades, any industry or product that is enabled by the exponential growth of
information technology in turn falls onto an exponential price/performance level of growth. This acceleration
is more and more evident in recent years. Miniaturized computers, smart phones, wearable devices,
consumer drones, and even satellites are now “information technologies.” The CubeSat, which was once
an educational exercise in spacecraft systems engineering, now packs so much capability that the
aerospace industry is moving away from massive satellites towards constellations of small, resilient, highly
advanced smallsats. These trends are nowhere near their theoretical limit, and are expected to continue
to accelerate in capability and performance.
This steady advancement affirms the positive view that the industrialization of space will commence in the
next few decades. Enabled by “big data” computation capabilities and artificial intelligence algorithms
trained by machine learning, the space robotic systems of the near future will be a far cry from even the
state of the art robotics in space today. For the early history of robotics pattern recognition was too
undeveloped to make robots anything more than a “teach-and-repeat” level of automation. A very handy
tool on the assembly line, but not capable of handling something as complex as a space mission without
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regular human supervision from Earth. Recent advancements in computation and pattern recognition are
changing this. Robotics now and in the near future will be capable of performing the complex decision
making tasks required for space exploration. And in an environment where the risk to human life is so high,
the robotic construction worker will be gladly welcomed. With these highly capable robotics, and access to
the vast amount of space resources, a new era in space exploration will be unlocked.
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returned to cislunar space) is put to good use in the RAMA concept as structural support and propellant
reaction mass.
Taken to the extreme, the RAMA architecture enables a continuous train of resources to be redirected
from interplanetary to cislunar space: A train of mechanically driven, asteroid spacecraft, “mine carts,”
stretching from the depths of the asteroid belt to within 1 Lunar Distance (LD) of the Earth-Moon system.
A symphony of endless revolving resources working in concert that, once in place, humans could hitch
aboard and use as “free rides” to interplanetary space and back. Over time, such a system could convert
these rudimentary spacecraft into sophisticated vehicles fit for human habitation; or fit them with sensors
as research platforms to map other asteroids. Ultimately RAMA will create a system that will give humanity
access to safer, faster and cheaper options for accessing the wealth of resources in our solar system.
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Large Scale Space Manufacturing and Assembly:
Made In Space and NASA are operating together on a
Public/Private Partnership through the Archinaut
Program. Archinaut is a platform of technologies that
make possible the manufacturing and assembly of very
large structure in the space environment. The near term
goals of Archinaut are to construct large spacecraft
elements using materials launched from Earth, but the
same methods may one day be used with the Seed Craft
Archinaut program for robotic space mfg. to create large structures out of asteroid materials in-situ.
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Figure 1-2: Asteroid Size Distributions (Source: Marco Colombo, Density Design Research Lab)
Composition: Asteroids formed from the same circumstellar cloud of gas and dust as the inner planets,
so their bulk composition is generally similar to Earth. However, Earth’s larger mass and gravity has
allowed its interior to remain hot and geologically active, concentrating various materials through processes
that never took place on the asteroids. Asteroids thus tend to be more homogeneous and undifferentiated
than Earth. While Earth’s surface and interior show high differentiation and can be divided into layers and
geological zones, a sample from one part of an asteroid is likely to be similar to every other part of the
same asteroid.
This lack of differentiation offers both advantages and disadvantages for resource utilization. One
advantage is that it makes characterization of an asteroid’s composition considerably easier. Unlike Earth,
an asteroid’s composition is not a strong function of location, and any materials found on an asteroid’s
surface are likely be present throughout the asteroid’s interior. A lack of differentiation also means that
valuable materials that are locked up in inaccessible regions on Earth are within easy reach on asteroids.
Metals like iridium, which on Earth are mostly dissolved deep in our iron core, are distributed uniformly
throughout an asteroid. Rare platinum group metals can only be found on Earth in locations where geologic
process have brought them near the surface. But on asteroids, they are likely distributed throughout the
body, and can be naturally separated while mining for other minerals.
The disadvantage to this lack of differentiation is that much larger volumes of asteroid materials must be
processed to yield the same quantity of resources. Mining on Earth is frequently a process of following
veins where minerals are present in higher quantities than in the surrounding deposits; By contrast, mining
on asteroids is likely to focus more on moving and processing large volumes of a uniformly low grade ore.
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Structure: Medium sized asteroids (1-100 km in diameter) have
sufficient gravity to adhere small rocks and regolith to their
surface, but insufficient gravity to develop the internal pressure or
heat required to melt or separate their interiors (Figure 1-3).
Asteroids in this size range tend to resemble loose packed
agglomerations with a porous structure. Mining material from
these asteroids will require comparatively little breaking or
mechanical processing, as an assortment of materials in a range
of sizes is already available. By contrast, small asteroids <100m
in diameter are more likely to be a single continuous body, as their
surface gravity is too weak to hold on to anything loosely packed. Figure 1-3: Asteroid Itokawa, imaged from
The continuous nature of small asteroids is also evident from the Hayabusa spacecraft. Note the loose
studies of their rotation rate. Small asteroids are regularly packed structure composed of multiple
observed to be rotating rapidly enough that centrifugal force at smaller solid bodies.
their surface exceeds that of their gravity, implying that the body
must have some internal cohesion in order to remain intact [5]. This can be expressed by the criteria where
the period is small enough for centrifugal force to exceed gravitational acceleration seen in Equation 1.
GM
ω2 r >
r2
Equation 1: Criterion for an asteroid being unable to remain gravitationally bound
Which, in terms of the asteroids diameter d, Mass M, and revolution period T can be expressed as Equation
2.
πd3
T<
2GM
Equation 2: Criterion, which if met, suggests the asteroid is a single solid mass rather than a
gravitationally bound collection of smaller masses
Any asteroid which is observed to meet this criterion is known to have significant internal cohesion.
Knowledge of the period of revolution can be obtained by repeated observations of the asteroid and
detecting cycles in its apparent magnitude, but knowledge of the asteroids diameter and mass cannot be
known accurately without up close observations from a spacecraft. This method should thus be used with
caution.
The mining techniques deployed on these small monolithic asteroid will be very different than those
deployed on a medium asteroid, requiring the ability to break down large chunks before processing. This
can be an advantage, as the monolithic structure can negate the need for support or reinforcement to
brace the asteroid against acceleration.
Albedo/Magnitude: Ground based observations are not able to resolve asteroids as anything other than
point sources except during very close passes of Earth. The only way to infer an asteroid’s size from
ground observations is by measuring the amount of light it reflects. Like with stars, this measurement is
quantified with a photometric magnitude system, where a lower magnitude corresponds to a brighter
source, and each step of -1 magnitude equates to a factor of 2.5 increases in the intensity of the source.
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An asteroid’s apparent magnitude is not a simple function of its distance from the observer, but also of its
phase angle (the angle between the sun, the asteroid and the Earth) and its albedo (the tendency of its
surface to reflect light), as shown in Figure 1-4. Different asteroid types will have different surface coatings,
which preferentially scatter light in different directions, further complicating the estimation of an asteroid’s
size from its magnitude. Asteroids tend to have dark, non-reflective surfaces with albedo values of .04-.20,
making them as dark as asphalt.
By convention, the absolute magnitude of an asteroid is defined as its apparent magnitude when it is 1 AU
from the Earth and from the Sun. A typical 50m asteroid may have an absolute magnitude of ~26,
illustrating the difficulty in detecting these small objects except when they are very close to Earth (typical
limits on telescopes dedicated to asteroid surveys are 21-24, meaning a 50m asteroid in a 1AU orbit may
not be detected until it is within 0.1-0.3 AU of Earth. This further highlights the distinction between proven
and unproven resources in asteroid mining. Estimates of potential resources must be informed by the
understanding that all asteroid surveys are partial surveys only.
Tracking/Naming: Because the vast majority of asteroids are too dim to be detected except when they
are close to Earth or at a favorable phase angle, asteroids can go several years after detection without
being observed again. Asteroids in orbits with periods similar to Earth’s will only make close passes of
Earth every few decades, complicating the process of re-acquiring them once they have been lost. The
convention for discovery and identification of asteroids requires observing them on multiple passes
(typically 4-5) before their orbit is sufficiently well characterized to not be lost again. Once an asteroid has
met this threshold, it is assigned a unique discovery number (e.g. 2350751). Until then, each asteroid is
referred to by its discovery year and a temporary letter code (e.g. 2002 AW). The vast majority (>90%) of
asteroids have yet to be observed a sufficient number of times for a precise orbital fix, so asteroids are
most commonly referred to by the temporary discovery year and letter code.
Figure 1-4: Factors contributing to an asteroid’s apparent magnitude. An asteroid just outside of Earth’s orbit
and at low phase angle will be almost fully illuminated, and physically closer, making it much easier to detect than
one which is inside Earth’s orbit and far away. The absolute magnitude of an asteroid is defined as the apparent
magnitude it would present if it were located 1 AU from both the Earth and Sun. Note how the asteroid may never
actually occupy this position.
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Physical Properties: Once an asteroid’s absolute magnitude H has been measured, and an estimate of
its albedo α has been made (or assumed) an estimate of the asteroid’s diameter can be derived from the
empirical relationship seen in Equation 3.
d = 1.329 ∙ 106 α-1 2 10-H 5 meters
Equation 3: Asteroid diameter as a function of measured albedo
Very little additional information can be obtained beyond this from telescopic observations alone. If
repeated observations can be taken frequently enough, it is possible to measure the small changes in
brightness that occur as the asteroid rotates, thus providing a measurement of the asteroid’s spin rate and
approximate shape. If the asteroid can be imaged in multiple color filters, an estimate of its composition
and type can be made (though high-resolution spectral data is still required to confirm). Observations
beyond position and magnitude are not commonly collected due to telescope time and cost constraints, so
the sum total of all “known” information about an asteroid is often limited to its approximate orbit, and a
very rough estimates of its size. Nothing can be known about its shape, mass, density or composition
without additional observations. Next to diameter, the most important property of an asteroid is arguably
its mass, which is impossible to measure from the ground. Until the asteroid is visited by a spacecraft,
details like its mass can only be guessed at.
Figure 1-5: Asteroid Observations and Properties. The combination of observations that are required to derive
reliable measurements of an asteroid’s properties.
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Asteroid Types: As shown in Figure 1-5, an estimate of an asteroid’s type and composition requires
multiple measurements in multiple color bands, or detailed spectral data. No common database of asteroid
spectra exists at the moment, but a rough taxonomy of asteroids has still been developed by matching
available spectral data to identified meteorites found here on Earth. The two most common types are
described below and shown in Table 1-1:
C-cadre: More common in the main belt, less common near Earth orbit. Characterized by a darker
albedo, lower density, and a higher prevalence of organic compounds, water-ice and other volatiles.
S-cadre: The most common near Earth object type, but less common in the main belt.
Characterized by a high albedo, and a stony/metallic composition with very little water-ice or
volatiles.
The details of an asteroid’s composition can cover a wide range, even within a given type, and there is a
large amount of overlap/ambiguity between types. The general properties are shown in Table 1-1:
Properties of various general asteroid types, and their relative abundances throughout the inner solar
system are shown in Figure 1-6.
Table 1-1: Properties of various general asteroid types
Figure 1-6: Distribution of Asteroid Types as a Function of the Distance from the Sun. The percentage of the
population represented by various types is shown in grey, while the total number density in each orbit is shown in
blue. The gaps are the so called “Kirkwood Gaps”, caused by orbital resonances with Jupiter and Saturn. At these
distances, an asteroid’s orbit is not stable, and will be quickly perturbed to a lower or higher orbit. Adapted from
K.R. Lang 2010, number density data from JPL.
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2 RAMA ARCHITECTURE CONCEPT
2.1 THE ASTEROID SPACECRAFT
The purpose of the RAMA spacecraft is to leverage a small amount of mass and equipment delivered to
the asteroid by a Seed Craft, and use it to return a larger mass of asteroid raw materials to cislunar space.
To accomplish this, the RAMA craft requires all the functions of a conventional interplanetary spacecraft,
subject to the constraints that they be 1) Manufactured from materials available on the asteroid, 2)
Manufactured on/by equipment available on the Seed Craft. The specific solution will depend on the
asteroid, but in general, the RAMA craft must have the capabilities shown in Figure 2-1.
Figure 2-1: The Asteroid Spacecraft Mass Requirements. The required capabilities of the RAMA craft, arranged
in approximate order of their mass requirements.
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3D Printed Mechanical Theo Jansen’s
Computers - There are Strandbeest -
multiple examples of Demonstrates the
analog computing successful storage and
devices performing release of energy for
(A) orbit calculations. locomotion via passive,
(B) mechanically-driven
processes.
Creating spacecraft from mechanical systems is entirely possible, and given the right mission, is even
desirable. NASA NIAC has funded work to JPL under the AREE project (Automaton Rover for Extreme
Environments) to develop a Venus rover made entirely of mechanical subsystem capable of surviving the
harsh environment on the Venus surface. The RAMA mission class also represents a desirable case for
mechanical subsystems. Propulsion systems to move 100-meter asteroids are too large to launch, but can
be built in-situ as mechanical mass drivers; flywheels for attitude control are too heavy to launch, but could
be constructed within an asteroid to control its spin rate and store energy. It is also possible to create
mechanical computation devices for spacecraft that could perform basic avionics-style routines. For
missions that require independence from Earth, with no supply of Earth made electronics, the creation of
basic mechanical computers may serve as an alternative.
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2.2.2 SUBSYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The performance requirements for each subsystem will depend on the size, mass and type of asteroid
they are being built for. A rough estimate of their requirements is provided Table 2-1 for a “typical” asteroid
that RAMA might be expected to operate on.
Table 2-1: The general capabilities and performance requirements of each of the asteroids sub-systems.
Values reported are for a baseline 100m, 1.5 million tonne asteroid in a near earth orbit.
Propulsion Earth intercept maneuver, plus lunar flyby and Total ΔV: 100-1000 m/s
breaking into cislunar orbit if tug is not available. Isp: 10-100 sec
High enough performance for sufficient asteroid Vejection: >100 m/s
mass to remain after the maneuver is complete PMF: 50-85%
Attitude Control Maintain asteroid orientation during maneuver, 5-50% inertial moment of the
manage spin rate for artificial gravity control. asteroid
Communications Position and status reporting to Seed Craft or Transponder providing range
Earth receiver. Receive and activate flight and rate information at ~1AU.
termination if off course. 100-1000 W transmitter.
14
addition and counting exercises, while later developments saw multiplication, division, and differential
analysis. By the 1960’s mechanical computers could calculate square roots.
Some notable mechanical computers are the Antikythera Mechanism, circa 200 BC, Blaise Pascal’s
Pascaline machine of 1642, Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine of 1837, and the Voskhod Spacecraft
Globus Navigation Unit of the early 1960’s. All of these machines are remarkable in their own right, but the
Antikythera Mechanism is uniquely so.
The Antikythera Mechanism, shown earlier in Figure 2-2F, is an astronomical calculator found at the bottom
of the sea in 1901. It originally dates back to the 2nd century BC and is a mechanical calculating machine,
which predicts the positions of the Moon, Sun and other planetary bodies with surprising accuracy. It took
more than 100 years to reveal its secrets to humanity, due to its complex inner structure, as shown in
Figure 2-3. The machine made use of 40 gears on 20 axles to track the movement of planets. Techniques
such as epicyclic theory, developed by Apollonius and Hipparchus, were used to rotate gears within gears
through elliptic routes. The Antikythera Machine could perform addition, subtraction and most amazingly
was machined to incredible detail, making it a wonder of mechanical creation to this day.
Figure 2-3: The complex gear structure of the Antikythera Machine. © Markos Skoulatos, Eternal Gadgetry
15
Figure 2-4 shows the Functional Block Diagram (FBD) for an asteroid converted into an entirely mechanical
spacecraft via the RAMA process. At the heart of the mechanical spacecraft is a 3D printed analog
computer that operates on a series of simple gears. The computer is powered by a store of potential energy
found in 3D printed springs and flywheels. Mission objectives for the mechanical spacecraft will be fairly
basic in nature requiring simple GNC. Flywheel gyros can be 3D printed and will keep the spacecraft on
course by feeding momentum data into the analog computer which subsequently commands the
propulsion system to propel asteroid materials and impart course corrections.
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been significantly lightened by the expenditure of waste material as propellant, and is easily intercepted
via the same techniques planned in the crewed portion of ARM.
17
Figure 2-5: An updated version of the asteroid spacecraft requirements from Figure 2-1, showing the
source of the materials used to provide each capability as assumed for the rest of this study.
18
Figure 2-6: Schematic of the Seed Craft Architecture. A modular solar electric propulsion system attached to a
common bus. Ahead of the bus are various modules for performing specific tasks required at the asteroid. The
module is serviced by a common robotics traverse for transporting materials between operations.
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RAMA-1 would be programmed to slowly adjust its path over time putting it on a new course to the Earth-
Moon L5 point where asteroid mining activity is underway, and waiting for the RAMA-1 resources. Once
RAMA-1 charts its new orbital path, the RAMA Seed Craft is then sent to a new target asteroid to begin
conversion of RAMA-2 and so on until the Seed Craft’s end of life or loss of signal. A step by step of the
construction process is outlined in Figure 2-7.
Figure 2-7: The RAMA Construction Process. 1) The Seed Craft arrives at the asteroid and prepares to dock. 2)
The Seed Craft has begun mining the inside of the asteroid while extruding the metallic catapult sling arms. 3) The
inside of the asteroid is hallowed out with large fly wheels constructed at the bow, worker drones continue to
prepare the inside and outside of the asteroid for its mission. 4) The Seed Craft has completed the construction
process and has begun to spin up the flywheels using onboard power. 5) The Seed Craft departs from the asteroid
after imparting enough momentum to begin sling arm retraction to the loading position. Step 6, the fully functional
asteroid spacecraft begins its maneuver.
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3 PROJECT RAMA PHASE I WORK
3.1 TECHNICAL APPROACH
The design of a specific RAMA concept involves selecting some top level mission constraints (such as
launch window and return mass) and iterating on the design of the Seed Craft, the target asteroid, the
return trajectory, and the component RAMA technologies until a design is found that closes on all feasibility
criteria. This iterative process is captured in a design tool we have developed called Rock Finder. Rock
Finder at present exists as a distributed tool, accessing information from multiple online sources and
spreadsheets, and using external applications like the General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) and custom
scripts written in Octave. The goal is for Rock Finder to be integrated into a single code library or browser
application with a cleaner front end that would allow the process to be duplicated by anyone interested in
utilization of asteroid resources.
21
better to maintain the existing target base, but use the excess propulsive capacity to bring additional
equipment and decrease production time at the asteroid? What if existing models of asteroid populations
were revised, and smaller asteroids were found to be more prevalent near Earth than previously predicted?
Would the shift to a mining architecture that emphasized distributed mining of a large number of smaller
targets be more effective than continuing to mine a small number of large targets? Any one of these
discoveries is potentially as disruptive to a future asteroid mining industry as a gold or oil boom in the
1800’s, and who makes their fortunes on the asteroid mining sector will depend on their ability to quickly
grasp the implications of new discoveries.
22
Figure 3-1: Schematic of the back end mission design process for the Rock Finder tool. Mission constraints
are specified by the user (blue) which automatically propagate to relevant design parameters for the mission
(green), allowing rapid design iteration to produce a workable mission. Items shown in red represent calculations or
data input from an external program or website.
23
Figure 3-2: An example of a section of the Rock Finder front end, defined in Excel. Shown are the sections
allowing top level timeline constraints to be specified (top left, in blue) and the resulting list of available targets
24
3.2.3 HOW ROCK FINDER WORKS
Reference Asteroid Composition Model: The wide range of compositions present among asteroids
prevents easy classification, but a model is required to estimate the composition of an asteroid when
spectral data are not available. Such a model can never be more than a rough approximation (no more
accurate than a single bulk composition model for all of Earth’s surface) but it is useful as a first pass.
Based on a combination of meteorite and spectral data [30], the reference composition model shown in
Table 3-1 was developed for each Small Main Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey type listed in the JPL
small bodies database.
Table 3-1: Reference Composition Model. Developed from meteorite compositions and spectral data.
Asteroids
CI,CM CV,CK,CR,CH LL L H EL,EH S-Type M-Type
Carbon 3% 0.7% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.4%
Cobalt 3% 0.7% 0.4% 0.5%
Iron 20% 27% 23% 23% 20% 26% 15% 65%
Water/Ice 20% 7%
Magnesium Monoxide 11% 14% 14.7% 14.7% 14.7% 12.4%
Nitrogen 0.25% 0.01%
Nickle 1% 1% 10% 10% 10% 7% 7% 30%
Olivine 29% 33% 38% 38% 38% 46% 42% 4%
Orthopyroxene 7% 36%
Phosphorus 4%
Platinum 0.02%
Sulfur 5% 2% 2% 2% 2% 5%
Silicon Metal 12% 15% 9% 12% 14% 3%
3
Bulk Density (kg/m ) 1400 1400 1400 2700 1400 1400 2700 9600
RAMA System Sizing: The composition model places limits on what materials are available on a given
asteroid and in what quantities. This constrains the capabilities of the RAMA systems, and allows them to
be scaled to maximize performance.
An example of the optimization process goes as follows: By specifying the RAMA craft is to be built from
a C-type asteroid 20m in diameter, the composition model can estimate that 1172 mT of ice are available
on the asteroid. Further specifying that the RAMA craft is to be propelled by a LOX-H2 rocket powered by
electrolyzing the asteroid’s entire supply of ice constrains the Isp and propellant mass fraction of the RAMA
vehicle (340 s, PMF 20%). This is sufficient to constrains the total ΔV capability of the RAMA craft to 76
m/s. The asteroid’s known trajectory and computed NHATS results places a required ΔV of 250 m/s for its
return to Earth, implying the asteroid must shed 32% of its deadweight before its available ice supply would
be enough to propel it back to Earth. The materials budget indicates 33% of the asteroid is composed of
Olivine (a silicate rich form of rock), implying a RAMA vehicle fabricated entirely from the asteroid’s
remaining 27% iron and disposing of all the available rock before departure would be able to return to
cislunar space on its own. This further constrains the rate at which the Seed Craft must be capable of
processing asteroid material, and thus the size and power requirements of the Seed Craft.
25
This process is just one example for one selection of parameters; the Rock Finder tool makes it easy for
the designer to rapidly compare alternatives and evaluate tradeoffs.
Numerical Trajectory Optimization: Numerical trajectory planning is a computationally intensive process
that is unnecessary for checking the basic feasibility of a given mission. But once a specific target is
selected, trajectory planning is essential for detailed mission planning, and predicting the system
performance. To perform this step, Rock Finder exports the selected asteroid target to the external
application GMAT, which in turn imports asteroid SPK files from JPL’s HORIZONS tool. GMAT then
computes the Seed Craft’s and RAMA craft’s trajectories, with initial two body impulsive guesses provided
by NHATS.
26
3.3 ASTEROID SPACECRAFT SYSTEM LEVEL DESIGN
3.3.1 ASTEROID SPACECRAFT DESIGN METHODOLOGY
The methods used to provide each required spacecraft capability depend on the size of the asteroid and
the types of materials available. And as explained previously, it is not necessary or even desirable for every
function to be built into the asteroid, given the low mass cost of bringing certain systems from Earth.
However, since each function could in principle be duplicated with mostly mechanical components, the
following analysis was performed on methods to provide each spacecraft capability.
Description Feasibility
Based on ground technology that has been put into use; modifications for space
environment are clear and under research; demonstrations exist where additively 4
manufactured or with ISRU materials
27
3-3 shows a variety of methods for creating the propulsion subsystem along with variations on each
method, asteroid applicability, and a ranking of each.
Table 3-3: Propulsion Subsystem Options. A variety of options for how to enable the asteroid spacecraft’s
propulsive capabilities.
Monopropellant Rocket Gas powered rocket engine, Ion engine with ground S,M 4
Propulsion up asteroid as fuel, Pressurized volatiles expelled as
gas, Boil volatiles purged through a tunnel, Process
rock into fine dust and fire in high velocity streams,
Extract gas from solid material and use as RCS,
water jet, steam based rocket, steam based spray
Sail Based Propulsion Solar sail built in-situ, e-sail with 3D printed C,M,S 4
conductive filament, organic/metallic solar sail
constructed from asteroid resources, carbon
nanotube/grapheme solar sail, 3D printed thin
surface extend out from asteroid as a sail
Ablative Propulsion Laser ablation, shell of mirror to ablate dark side of C,M,S 4
rock, carve a surface onto the asteroid then target
and hit with a high powered laser, solar concentrator
to focus light and vaporize materials and volatiles,
solar lenses that vaporize asteroid while refining out
useful materials for mining, solar lens that is used to
eject dust stream
28
planet, gravity assist with other asteroids or comets,
planned collision with other masses
Flight Control – Spin Reshape asteroid to control spin, fly wheels, fly C,M,S 5
wheel powered gyros, unprocessed giant portions of
asteroid spin as reaction wheels, gyro/centrifuge
combo, de-spin by using asteroid spin to advantage
Obviate the Need for Perfect the initial momentum transfer, Seed Craft C,M,S 4
GNC creates perfect clock, gears sling rocks in certain
directions at certain times, Seed Craft pre-programs
all GNC
Guidance – Photo Elements that turn on in sunlight and off in the dark, C,M,S 4
Sensors bimetallic strips via sun slits, sun spotter plus Earth
29
laser, 3D print photo sensors to make basic star
tracker
Flight Control – ISRU Little mass ejections, use RAMA to send multiple C,M,S 4
asteroids into each other to create vector to Earth-
Moon L5
Flight Control – Sails Solar sails, e-sails with metallic wires that alter C,M,S 4
length to change direction and course
Flight Control – Albedo Albedo adjustment to get thermal radiation spin C,M,S 3
effects
Flight Control – Gravity Use known gravity pathways through solar system C,M 3
to create a active GNC free trajectory
ISRU Computer - Make 1970s era TTL semiconductors, use metal on C,M,S 5
Electronics asteroids to build circuit boards, make miniature
RISC for processor and then compile to bytecode,
use BMS and asteroid rotation as system clock,
insulate conductive traces on surface of asteroid, 3D
print wires, traditional electronic wiring, Seed Craft
lays out wires across asteroid
30
printed clock sundial code execution, print
collimator, shadows used for computation
Remote Control – Light Use lasers directed from Earth, laser or Sun heat C,M,S 4
and Heat used to turn orientation into a mechanical signal,
synchronous communications with spin rate and
heat, track asteroid from Earth and send position
with pulses hitting thermal expansion, use mirrors
for old semaphore style communications with Earth
Remote Control – Radio Six masts line of sight RF, mesh network LoS RF for C,M,S 4
swarms, short wave RF, build a crystal radio in-situ
Bring Computer Along Seed craft deploys micro-miniature avionics on each C,M,S 4
asteroid, advantage is that in 20-30 years computers
the size of a thumb nail will be highly advanced
Obviate the Need Hard code course with the Seed Craft, Seed Craft C,M,S 3
can code a mechanical computer that executes on
that code without ever adjusting the code
Mechanical (Storage) Printed springs, wind up coil springs, flywheel and M,S 5
spring system combo, pure fly wheels, fly wheels
pre-spun by Seed Craft, giant reaction wheels used
for both energy storage and stabilization, spin up
flywheels with large impulse and use that for power,
pneumatics with gas taken from asteroid
Solar Power (Generation) Create solar photovoltaic cells in-situ for power C 5
generation
31
Electrochemical Build batteries from volatiles, solid state fuel cells, C 5
(Storage) solar powered flywheel provides energy to system
as it is used
Thermal (Generation) Simple power plant, heat engine, utilize the latent C,M,S 5
heat from phase change or heat capacity
Chemical (Generation) Mine the volatiles and use for power generation C,M,S 4
Seed Craft Exclusive All energy generated by the Seed Craft, Seed Craft M,S 3
makes and compresses springs, Seed Craft uses
solar PV during conversion process and dumps
extra energy into asteroid derived energy storage
Subsystem Connections
The final subsystem analyzed in this study was the connections from one subsystem to another. The
analysis shown in Table 3-7 lists a variety of options for enabling asteroid spacecraft subsystems to
connect power and data through mechanical and in-situ created means.
Table 3-7: Subsystem Connection Options. A variety of options for how to enable the asteroid spacecraft
subsystems to connect and transfer data to one another.
Mechanical Gears, Gears and chains, belt driven systems, worm gear C,M,S 5
Pulleys, Levers systems, wires on pulleys, fiberglass tethers and
belts derived from asteroid materials
32
Light Shadows Utilize light and shadows to transfer information C,M,S 5
from subsystem to another
Fiber Optics Create fiber optics from asteroid materials and use C,M,S 5
sunlight to transfer information through optical fibers
Orbiting Satellite to Seed craft deploys a small orbiting satellite around M,S 2
Relay Digital Signal or the asteroid to relay digital signals off of mirrors or
Light Via Mirror corner cube reflectors installed on the asteroid
surface
Thermal Modify the asteroid in such a way that its thermal C,M,S 2
Expansion/Contraction expansion and contractions can be used to relay
information
Asteroid Type C S M
Propulsion Water to LOX/H2 Propulsion Mechanical Mass Driver Electric Mass Driver
GNC Selective Albedo Control De-spin Masses Electrodynamic Whiskers
Energy On board Seed craft Silicon PV Panels Flywheel/Metallic Spring
33
3.4 ISRU MANUFACTURING ASSESSMENT
3.4.1 IN-SITU RESOURCE AVAILABILITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES
While rare metals like platinum and palladium are available in the asteroids, the true value of asteroid
resources does not come from the presence of valuable trace materials. The value of the asteroids
comes from the availability of common materials without the need to ship them from Earth.
Launching material from Earth to cislunar space costs ~$40000/kg, meaning that material, once it is
delivered from Earth to cislunar space, is literally as valuable as gold.
For any major project in cislunar space (such as the construction of large habitats or radio telescopes) it is
impractical to ship bulk materials from Earth at that rate. Bulk materials, if available in space, will be
exploited in space, with launch capacity from Earth being reserved for complex equipment and trace
materials that cannot be obtained without Earth’s complex industrial base. Even assuming futuristic
advances in technology like space elevators, the energy required to ship materials from Earth’s surface to
cislunar space will always be higher than the energy required to ship the same material from the asteroids,
implying that the theoretical minimum cost of sourcing the materials from Earth will always be higher.
This is not currently the case because mining and refining resources on Earth is a cost optimized practice
with several thousand years of development behind it. The process of extracting resources from asteroids
is undeveloped, and not cost competitive yet with terrestrial mining. But assuming the process of extracting
and refining asteroid materials can be made competitive with the cost of extracting and refining terrestrial
resources, a clear market will develop for common materials like ice and iron in cislunar space.
Critical capabilities are missing at every step of the process. The process can be thought of in terms of the
following 9 steps, adapted from J. Lewis shown in Table 3-9.
Table 3-9: The Process of Extracting Resources. A list of what is involved in terrestrial and asteroid mining at
each of J. Lewis’s 9 steps of resource extraction.
34
6) Transporting Surface Transport Interplanetary Transport
Cost proportional to Distance Travelled Cost proportional to ΔV
None of the technologies employed in terrestrial mining can be directly applied to asteroid mining. Implicit
in the development of all terrestrial mining technologies are certain assumptions that are not valid in the
context of asteroids, such as:
1) The presence of humans to correct mistakes and make decisions.
2) An industrial base for providing replacement parts and equipment.
3) Gravity to provide a buoyant force for the settling and separation of materials.
These differences render all terrestrial mining experience inadequate, and present technological barriers
that must be overcome before asteroid resources can capitalize on its energetically advantageous position
in the solar system.
Resource Overview: Asteroid compositions mimic the composition of Earth, but without the benefits of
gravity and geologic processing that have concentrated and dispersed materials throughout Earth’s
interior. Asteroids thus contain abundant supplies of iron/nickel (present in Earth’s core) silicates and
oxides (present in Earth’s mantle) and water-ice and other volatiles (present on Earth’s surface). These
asteroid resources can be combined to produce effectively anything that a maturing space civilization
requires. Examples of this are shown in Figure 3-3.
35
Figure 3-3: The range of finished products and required processes for a comprehensive asteroid mining
mission. The actual options available on a given asteroid will be limited to a small fraction of this schematic due to
the lack of certain materials. Adapted from J.L Lewis “Mining the Sky”, Figure IX2.
The range of processes illustrated in Figure 3-3 shows why the modular design of the Seed Craft is
essential. An M-type asteroid for example is not expected to contain any significant quantities of volatiles.
Any capabilities on the upper branch of the chart would represent wasted mass of the Seed Craft. By
contrast, a volatile rich but metal poor C-type asteroid would be restricted by material availability to an
upper branch of the tree as shown in Figure 3-4.
36
Figure 3-4: The range of finished products and required processes available on a C-type asteroid. The
prevalence of organics and volatiles leads to the exclusion of metal based manufacturing methods in favor of
polymer structures and chemical propulsion systems. Adapted from J.L Lewis “Mining the Sky”, Figure IX2.
Even limited to these options, the C-type asteroid has the materials to produce high performance rocket
propellant, which can be used to propel the RAMA spacecraft to new locations. The availability of polymers
also permits composite structures to be manufactured along with the crushed rock and regolith, forming a
composite material with excellent tensile and compressive strength. A prototype of composite ISRU based
additive manufacturing was created during this study shown in Figure 3-5. A spring loaded propellant
cannon was created using polymer based additive manufacturing methods shown in the left of the image.
On the right side of the image is a JSC-1A regolith simulant combined with a polymer to create a composite
structure with functioning gearbox inside.
37
Figure 3-5: An example of a composite part manufactured by combining a regolith analog with a polymer
binder. The resulting structure exhibits excellent tensile and compressive properties, and can be bonded with a
fully polymer part (shown inserted as a gear and piston assembly manufactured from ABS plastic)
38
Figure 3-6: The range of finished products and required processes available on a M-type asteroid. Adapted
from J.L Lewis “Mining the Sky”, Figure IX2.
A metal rich asteroid would be constrained to the lower left side of the chart as shown in Figure 3-6.
Manufacturing techniques on the M-type asteroid would employ methods such as the carbonyl based Mond
process and powder sintering methods to produce strong metallic structures. Propulsion options are much
more limited, but one possibility would be the use of surplus metal to produce an electromagnetic cannon
powered by locally manufactured photovoltaics.
39
Figure 3-7: The range of finished products and required processes available on a S-type asteroid. Adapted
from J.L Lewis “Mining the Sky”, Figure IX2.
A stony asteroid process, shown in Figure 3-7, presents a middle ground between the C and M types,
permitting the use of both metals and stones as manufacturing materials. Propulsion options include the
use of excess stone as projectiles in a high strength steel sling.
Additive manufacturing technologies provide unique opportunities for the S-type asteroids. For example,
additive manufacturing represents an instance of the fully autonomous robotic operations required by Step
5) Excavating. For manufacturing complex metallic parts without the support of a planet scale industrial
base, additive manufacturing also provides an alternative to the Mond Carbonyl process. It is for these
reasons that the current study focuses on the S-type asteroid for RAMA mission design.
40
3.4.2 IN-SITU MANUFACTURING TRADE STUDY
In-Situ Manufacturing Trade Study Methodology
A trade study was performed on the variety of in-situ manufacturing technologies that are available or in
development for use with the RAMA architecture. The study looked at manufacturing methods that are or
can be adapted for additive manufacturing processes as well as those technologies that can be automated.
Only manufacturing technologies that can work with candidate materials found on asteroids were
considered. Finally, a set of evaluation criteria was created to compare each technology against the other.
The evaluation criteria focused on six unique aspects: Current TRL, TRL in 20 years, Cost and Potential
Success of R&D, Total Cost of Method Once Developed, Shape Error Tolerance in Manufacturing, and
Asteroid Type Applicability.
Evaluation Criteria
In order to properly evaluate a variety of manufacturing technologies for future applicability with the RAMA
architecture six unique criteria were selected which together give a holistic look at each manufacturing
method in comparison to one another. The six criteria were; Technology Readiness Level (TRL), TRL in
20 years (TRL +20), Cost and Potential Success of R&D, Total Cost of Method, Shape Error Tolerance,
Asteroid Applicability. The basis for how each criterion was evaluated is described below.
Technology Readiness Level
The first two criterion, TRL and TRL +20 years, are evaluated using the accepted NASA nomenclature for
TRL. Shown in Table 3-10, the TRL of each manufacturing method is ranked based on maturity an
readiness for use in the space environment. Given that the RAMA architecture is a forward looking program
with a 20 year plus horizon, it is critical to not just evaluate the current TRL of a method but also to analyze
the expected TRL maturity by the time the first RAMA missions are expected to take place.
Table 3-10: Technology Readiness Level Description
41
Cost and Potential Success of R&D
The estimates for the R&D costs of each manufacturing method were calculated by carefully analyzing
each method across a set of factors: Comparison to other space-based manufacturing systems developed
by MIS, analysis of similar systems created by other organizations, projected time frame for availability,
and general subject matter expertise within the MIS team. Table 3-11 provides the ranking metrics for the
cost and potential success of each manufacturing method as it pertains to the RAMA architecture.
Table 3-11: Cost and Potential Success of R&D. This metric is based on associated costs and success metrics
for accomplishing the RAMA architecture.
Description Ranking
Factor
Based on ground technology that has been put into use; modifications for space
environment are clear and under research; demonstrations exist where additively 7-8
manufactured or with ISRU materials
42
Total Cost of Method
The total cost of each method was evaluated using a set of pre-described evaluation criteria as detailed in
Table 3-12. The cost criteria assess expected cost for the end unit system employed on each RAMA
mission. The ranking criteria are on a scale from 1-9, where 9 represents the ideal, lowest cost solutions.
Table 3-12: Total Cost of Manufacturing Method Evaluation Criteria. Each manufacturing method is evaluated
over a set of categories that together give a view as to the expected cost level of using such a method with the
RAMA architecture.
43
Manufacturing Methods and Analysis
Manufacturing Methods
During the Phase I study the team created a list of manufacturing technologies that hold promise for
applicability with the RAMA mission. The technologies selected for analysis all had to be conceivable for
potential use within the Seed Craft framework within the anticipated timeframe to first mission
commencement. For the most part, the manufacturing technologies studied are additive in nature. Some
of which are not solely manufacturing techniques though. In many cases the methods studied are
traditionally considered “welding” technologies; but with proper R&D investment could be adapted for
additive construction capability with the RAMA architecture. There are other methods that are more
subtractive in nature, but still lend well to being used for the desired mission needs. The full list of methods
studied is shown in Table 3-13.
Table 3-13: Manufacturing Method Options for In-Situ Construction with the RAMA Architecture
44
Laser Beam Welding Welds piece of metal through use of
a laser. Useful for high volume
applications requiring quality welds.
Does not have to be used in vacuum
45
Optical Mining™ Previous NIAC work by Joel Sercel,
/Manufacturing the Optical Mining™ technology is a
material processing technique that
when deployed with the RAMA
architecture may also be used for
manufacturing. The method uses
concentrated solar light to process
asteroid materials into useful
constituents.
46
3.5 S-TYPE ASTEROID MISSION ASSESSMENT
S-type asteroids are the most difficult case for the RAMA system, as they present the tightest constraint
on available materials. The problem is one of propellant availability. C-type asteroids contain volatiles
which are useful as propellant in a LOX-H2 or thermal water rocket, but S-type asteroids contain almost
no water or organics, and the chemical compounds that make up the bulk of their mass are bound up in
the form of inert oxides and rocks. This lack of chemical propellant option is partially offset by two
advantages:
1) S-type asteroids contain higher proportions of Iron/Nickel, which is useful for local manufacturing
and for reinforcing the asteroid.
2) S-type asteroids represent a higher fraction of near earth asteroids, and are generally easier to
reach and return from.
Turning an S-type asteroid into a self-propelled spacecraft requires separating the valuable metals, and
employing the less valuable silicate rocks as propellant. Due to the chemically inert nature of silicates, the
most direct option available would be some form of mechanical propulsion, such as a sling.
Compared to chemical or ion propulsion, the effectiveness of a mechanical system would be limited.
Regardless of composition or design, the mass efficiency of any propulsion system is defined exclusively
by the exhaust velocity that it is able to produce in its propellant. As mentioned previously, the total ΔV
capacity of any propulsion system is purely a function of its exhaust velocity, Ve and the propellant mass
fraction of the vehicle, PMF as shown in Equation 4.
∆V = −Ve ∙ ln 1 − PMF
Equation 4: The Rocket Equation. Propulsion for RAMA is governed by the same principles as any other rocket
engine.
Exhaust velocities of 1000-5000 m/s are typical of chemical propulsion, but such performance is impossible
for any system that stores its energy mechanically. For any mechanical storage medium (an elastic spring,
a flywheel, a tensioned coil etc.) the maximum energy that can be stored by the system without the material
yielding is the material’s specific strength, which can be computed as the ratio of yield stress to density
σ/ρ. The units of specific strength are Pa·m3·kg-1 or m2/s2, velocity squared. This velocity represents the
maximum velocity a mechanical system can theoretically propel itself up to. Figure 3-8 depicts strength vs.
densities of materials depicting the point of theoretical mechanical energy stored in different materials for
propulsion use cases.
47
Figure 3-8: Specific Strengths for a range of engineering materials, with values of characteristic velocity
shown in red. Note how conventional materials impose limits of 200-500 m/s. Source: Lehigh University
Tribology Laboratory
Exotic high strength ceramics with densities of ~3000 kg/m3 and yield strengths of ~10000 MPa could in
theory be used to produce a mechanical propulsion system with exhaust velocities of ~2000 m/s,
(corresponding to a specific performance of 205 s, comparable to a low performance mono-prop chemical
rocket), but conventional materials available on an S-type asteroid (like stone and iron, even if alloyed to
high strength steel) will be limited to a much lower ~500 m/s (Isp ~51 sec).
Reaching these theoretical maximums will also require the propellant to be consumed in small amounts.
This further constrains the options available as a large asteroid will take an unacceptable amount of time
to break down, mine for materials, and convert into propellant shots. For this study, the technology used
to breakdown the asteroid material is assumed to be similar to the Optical Mining technology described in
the 2016 NIAC Asteroid Provided In-situ Supplies by Sercel et al. [22] From this study, 10 kW of
concentrated sunlight was found to be capable of producing a 1000K spot ~20 cm2 in area, which was
capable of spalling a C-type asteroid analog material into smaller chunks at a rate of 0.7 mm/s. Given the
higher heat capacity of stone/metal asteroids, and the 70% higher required operating temperature, it can
be estimated that a similar system on an S-type would be capable of spalling asteroid material at a rate of
48
5.5 mm3/min per W of applied power. For a system powered by a future 1 MW photovoltaic system,
employing high power lasers in place of reflected sunlight, this would produce the ability to decompose the
asteroid at a rate of 145 g/sec.
This restriction limits the target selection by size, conversion time and orbit. For a fixed minimum return
mass, only targets in similar enough orbits to Earth will have sufficiently low ΔV return values to function
with the RAMA system. For a fixed return time, only targets with a small enough initial diameter could be
converted in a realistic amount of time. A chart showing multiple examples of NEOs with different
diameters, return ΔV value and conversion times are shown in Figure 3-9.
Figure 3-9: Asteroid Conversion Time Vs. Asteroid Diameter. The required conversion time for four NEOs
assuming a 1 MW optical mining system, achieving an excavation rate of 145 g/sec. The vertical width of the region
represents the range of conversion times a given asteroid may require to produce enough propellant required to
affect a 100-500 m/s ΔV for return to Earth (high ΔVs require more propellant to be produced, which requires more
of the asteroid to be excavated).
Figure 3-9 shows that a range of mission profiles are possible with S-type asteroids via the RAMA
architecture. A RAMA spacecraft with the return capability of the ARM mission can be produced in less
than a year, a more ambitious 20m spacecraft can be produced in 2 years, and an extremely long term
project could be undertaken to convert an asteroid like 2009 UY19 (shown in the upper right corner of the
chart), returning >10,000 metric-tonnes of material to cislunar space over the course of a 30 year mission.
While such a timeline may seem too long, it represents the equivalent of returning the mass of the ISS in
resources to Earth orbit every year for 30 years. Because it is the most ambitious and far reaching case,
it is the case we studied in more detail for this Phase I study.
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3.5.1 THE FAR END OF THE SPECTRUM – ASTEROID 2009 UY19
We chose to study in depth a known asteroid that exists at the far end of the “feasibility spectrum” in an
effort to show the true possibility of the RAMA architecture. Asteroid 2009 UY19 is an S-type asteroid with
an estimated diameter of 50-150m. Part of what makes this a far end of the spectrum asteroid to study is
the conversion time needed to convert it into an asteroid spacecraft. Shown in detail within this section,
UY19 will require nearly a decade of Seed Craft conversion in-situ to be ready for its mission to Earth-
Moon L5. This conversion rate is based on modest assumptions of Seed Craft functionality, which in due
time may improve significantly, thus decreasing conversion time. Nonetheless, the study of this large of an
asteroid, and the feasibility analysis of doing so, outlines the true disruptive capability of the RAMA
architecture.
The asteroid 2009 UY19 was discovered during a close flyby of Earth in October 2009, and makes periodic
close passes of the Earth every 29 years. During these passes, it comes within a few million km (~10 Lunar
Distances) of Earth, and the next pass in 2039 requires a ΔV of only 437 m/s to be diverted towards the
Earth-Moon L5 point. This makes it an attractive target for returning to cislunar space for resource
extraction. It is too massive to be recovered by any proposed ARM architecture, but it is a prime target for
the RAMA concept. The orbital parameters of 2009 UY19 are shown in Table 3-15.
Table 3-15: Orbital Parameters of 2009 UY19
50
Figure 3-10: The trajectory of 2009 UY19 as recommended by NHATS, and computed in the General Mission
Assessment Tool (GMAT). The coordinates in the upper figure are sun centered, while the lower figure are Earth
centered, with the orbit of the moon shown in grey for scale. The Seed craft follows the red trajectory away from
Earth and out of the plane of the ecliptic, rendezvousing with the asteroid (shown in white), remaining there for 8
days, then returning along the yellow trajectory. The 2039 trajectory is especially favorable, but options like this
occur once every synodic period (every 29 years). If the Seed craft remains on the asteroid for 8 days plus one
synodic period, an equally favorable Earth return window opens at its conclusion.
51
Like most NEOs, UY19 has never been resolved by any telescope, and spectral data has never been taken
to reveal its composition, but its apparent magnitude and proximity to Earth indicate it is most likely an S-
type with a diameter of 36-163 m. Detailed information on its size and composition would need to be
collected by a remote sensing campaign before any RAMA concept vehicle was launched, but for the
purposes of this study, the following assumptions in Table 3-16 were made about UY19.
Table 3-16: The assumed properties of 2009 UY19 assumed in this study. Assumptions represent the
approximate middle of possible range of values. Source: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/
2009 UY19
Assumed Physical Properties
Type S
Albedo 0.26
Diameter (m) 54
Mass (kg) 2.3E+08
Volume (m^3) 8.5E+04
Density (kg/m^3) 2700
With the physical dimensions of the asteroid fixed, it is possible to estimate the materials available at the
asteroid for constructing the RAMA spacecraft components. Under the standard composition model
assumed by Rock Finder, the composition breakdown for UY19 is shown in Table 3-17.
Table 3-17: Mass budget of UY19, broken down by component
Available Materials
Density Mass Volume Mass Volume Diameter Equivalent*
3 3
(kg/m ) (kg) (m ) Fraction Fraction (m)
Rock, Olivine
3320 9.47E+07 2.85E+04 42% 33.75% 38
(Mg,Fe)2SiO4
Rock, Orthopyroxene
3200 8.26E+07 2.58E+04 36% 30.54% 37
(Mg,Fe)2Si2O6
Iron 7874 3.42E+07 4.35E+03 15% 5.14% 20
Nickel 8908 1.67E+07 1.87E+03 7% 2.21% 15
Total 2700 2.28E+08 8.5E+04 100% 100% 54
*The equivalent diameter of the component if collected into a single mass
This composition illustrates why stony/iron asteroids present the greatest challenge to the RAMA
architecture: They provide very few materials to work with. There is effectively no water or volatiles to
produce propellant for chemical engines, and most of the mass is bound up in inert oxides and rocks. The
result of these limitations can be illustrated in the Figure 3-11 where the overall ISRU process shown in
section 3.3.4 is minimized based on available materials and manufacturing capabilities.
52
Figure 3-11: Tuning the ISRU Process for S-Type RAMA Architecture
When presented with an S-type asteroid like UY19, RAMA is forced to make use of mechanical methods
of propulsion. The mass efficiency of a propulsion system is defined entirely by the exhaust velocity it
produces, and the low energy density of mechanical components means mechanical propulsion will be
restricted to comparatively low exhaust velocities. In fact, it is possible to constrain the theoretical upper
limit of any purely mechanical propulsion system based only on the materials it is made from.
How this limitation impacts target selection and propulsion system design is illustrated in Figure 3-12. The
ΔV required to return the asteroid to Earth is fixed by the asteroid’s orbit. By selecting a material to
construct the propulsion system from, the maximum ejection velocity is constrained. This allows the
required propellant consumption to be computed across the range of possible ejection velocities. By
selecting a secondary material to serve as the propellant (in this case, inert rock) the amount of propellant
available can also be constrained. Only targets that satisfy these four constraints can be returned by a fully
mechanical RAMA system.
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Figure 3-12: A representation of the constrained optimization process for Asteroid 2009 UY19. Beginning
with the assumed asteroid type and available materials, 1) The maximum ejection velocity of the propulsion system
can be estimated. 2) This constrains the maximum performance of the propulsion system at all propellant mass
fraction (PMF) values. 3) The required total ΔV of the system to return the asteroid to Earth is constrained by
values from NHATS (if available) or estimated from the asteroid’s orbital elements. 4) The selection of propellant
material on the asteroid limits the amount of propellant available, and constrains the PMF. Only on asteroids where
all 4 of the above constraints can be met would the RAMA spacecraft be capable of completing its mission.
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Seed Craft Loadout
With no known sources of volatiles at UY19, the Seed Craft is customized for metal working and stone
mining. No chemical processing equipment is included; instead the Seed Craft is loaded with four modules
containing the following equipment:
1) Optical mining rig, containing a bank of one hundred 10kW lasers and a collection inlet, capable
of spalling and collecting asteroid material at a rate of ~.5 kg/s.
2) 5kW furnace for smelting and electromagnetically separating iron/nickel from rock.
3) 5000 kg of alloying elements and equipment for producing high strength steel.
4) A die extruder for extruding high strength steel into a circular beam 16 cm in diameter.
5) A 750 kg electromagnetic bearing assembly for permanent installation on the asteroid.
The mission was designed by taking into account the closest approach windows for UY19 and then backing
out each stage of the mission based on time from launch estimates. The timeline is shown in Table 3-18.
Table 3-18: 2009 UY19 RAMA Mission Timeline
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escaped the asteroid long ago. The lack of gravity and the cohesive nature of the asteroid will make
mechanical excavation very difficult. Optical mining methods have been previously studied as ways of
overcoming both difficulties in mining C-type asteroid by Sercel et al. [22] With a 10kW Optical Mining
system operating at a temperature of 1000K, an excavation rate of ~5 mm3/min of material per W of power
was observed (Figure 3-13). By directing the full power of the Seed Craft’s solar array to the optical mining
system and operating at the higher temperature required to decompose stone and metal, an excavation
rate of ~200 cm3/s can be expected.
The resulting debris from the mining site are lost to space until the Seed craft has bored a hole deep
enough to insert the mining module into the asteroid, forming a closed cavity to prevent the loss of more
debris. The material is then directed to an inlet adjacent to the optimal mining rig, where it is collected and
conveyed away from the mining site to be purified and smelted.
The melted rock is allowed to cool in measured batches (“shots”) 18 cm in diameter. By cooling them in
the presence of an electromagnetic field, they are left with a remnant magnetic field that makes them
cohere to each other magnetically, and to the walls of the asteroid. These 18 cm shots will be used as the
propellant for the mechanical propulsive system, and are packed around the wall of the ever-growing
interior of the asteroid.
Figure 3-14: Schematic of the RAMA conversion process. The schematic shows the inside elements of the
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The process of optically hollowing out the interior of the UY19 takes 8 years, producing a new shot every
17 seconds. Figure 3-15 shows the concept of the Seed Craft conversion of UY19 into the asteroid
spacecraft, and Figure 3-14 shows a more detailed depiction of the Seed Craft operations on the asteroid.
For the first decade of this process, a small fraction of the iron and nickel extracted from the material is not
returned to the interior of the asteroid or embedded in the shots, but is separated and combined with the
carbon and other alloying elements from the Seed craft to produce high strength steel. The steel is extruded
through a die out through radial bore holes in the asteroid excavated by the robots until it extends 40 m in
length.
Figure 3-15: The RAMA Architecture for the S-type asteroid 2009 UY19.
These “slings” are used for the main component of RAMA’s propulsion system. Rock Finder is capable of
computing the sling performance characteristics and sizing as shown in Figure 3-16, Figure 3-17 and
Figure 3-18. The base of each sling is firmly anchored to the interior of the asteroid. A series of 16 slings
are extruded at equally spaced intervals around the asteroid. While the amount of material consumed in
their production is large, (300 mT of materials to produce 80 mT of metal) it is small compared to the
amount of material required to produce the shots. The minimal ability to extrude 29 kg (220 mm of beams)
per day would take less than a year to finish. After that, metal is available to reinforce the interior of the
asteroid, provide scaffolding for the robots, or reduced into a powder for joining and reinforcement via laser
engineered net shaping with the mining lasers.
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Figure 3-16: Part 1 of 3 of the Rock Finder front end for 2009UY19. Shown are the top level inputs (top left) for
the mission, the asteroid calculated properties and materials budget (top right), the asteroids calculated orbital and
dynamic properties (bottom left) and the overall timeline (bottom middle). Also shown are the calculated
requirements for the system used to excavate the asteroid in order to meet the required timeline. All values shown
in yellow are automatically calculated and update/imported immediately in response to new user specified inputs.
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Figure 3-17: Part 2 of 3 of the Rock Finder front end for 2009UY19. Shown are the user specified assumption
about the primary structural material mined from the asteroid and used to construct the energy storage system
(middle left) and the propulsion slings (top middle). The summarized propulsion calculations for both the Seed Craft
and the RAMA craft are shown on the right. As in part 1, only the values shown in blue require specification by the
user, and the optimal values for each remaining value (in yellow) are automatically computed and presented for
rapid evaluation.
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Figure 3-18: Part 3 or 3 of the Rock Finder front end for 2009UY19, showing the imported maneuver
requirements for the mission. 2009UY19 had a preliminary trajectory computed as part of the NHATS study, so
Rock Finder defaults to using these values. If the selected target is not in the NHATS study, values are computed in
an external Lambert solver which duplicates the NHATS results for the requested target. Also reflected are the top-
level assumption about which segments (launch vehicle, cislunar tug, Seed Craft etc.) are responsible for each
maneuver. In this configuration, a cislunar tug is assumed to be available to intercept the empty RAMA craft and
brake it into orbit after a lunar flyby. If these options are indicated as not available, the delta-v requirements are
automatically re-apportioned, and the system reoptimized.
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After 8 years, when the asteroid is ~50% hollowed out, the 750 kg electromagnetic bearing assembly1 is
detached from the Seed Craft and transported by the robots to the opposite interior of the asteroid. The
base is welded to the interior wall, with its drive axis parallel to the spin axis of the asteroid. As construction
continues, surplus iron and nickel from the smelter are combined with the remaining alloying elements
from the Seed Craft to produce Inconel powder. Under robotic control using the Laser Engineered Net
Shaping (LENS) technology from the manufacturing trade study in section 3.4.2, the powder is additively
sintered radially outward from the electromagnetic bearing system, allocating the remaining metal
composition of the asteroid into a single mass of metal, mounted on the electromagnetic bearing. The
RAMA craft now has a crude mechanical spin stabilization and energy storage system.
Construction of the RAMA spacecraft is now complete (Figure 3-19). During manufacturing, the Seed Craft
has gradually used its own propulsion system to stabilize and orient the asteroid’s spin axis in the correct
direction. The system must now wait for the Earth return window to open. The Seed Craft stows its solar
1
The Earth-built, Seed Craft delivered bearing assembly is just one way in which this mission case closes. The authors leave it to future study to
investigate methods for in-situ construction of a capability to replace the need for this bearing assembly.
61
panels to protect them from debris, powers down its manufacturing systems, and waits 13 years for the
return window to open. During this time, it periodically reawakens to perform status checks and remote
sensing operations on any other targets the asteroid may pass close to.
One month before the window opens, the Seed Craft wakes up, and redeploys its power systems. It now
applies the power from the 4 MW photovoltaics (previously used to power manufacturing operations)
directly to the motors in the flywheels. This power is applied for 25 days, at the conclusion of which, the
two flywheel are spinning at ~4000 rpm (their approximate material limit) and have stored ~1 GJ of energy,
the amount of energy required to return the asteroid to Earth. Slightly charging one flywheel over the other
imparts a greater rotation to the reinforced asteroid shell, producing significant artificial gravity at the
surface of the asteroid, further adhering the shots up against the interior of the asteroid and up against
electromechanical exit ports bored by the robots.
Finally, the Seed Craft uses its own propulsion system to provide a series of forward “kicks” to the asteroid.
These kicks impart no significant ΔV, but are properly timed to match the fundamental frequency of the 16
extended slings protruding from the asteroid. The slings begin to oscillate back and forth, and after 3 days
of continuous kicks, the slings are rocking back and forth with a high enough amplitude to be bend all the
way back to the asteroid’s surface. The slenderness ratio of the slings (250:1) is large enough to remain
fully elastic when bent this far, allowing it to continue to oscillate like a pendulum with only thermal losses.
The Seed Craft, its decades long task complete, disengages from the asteroid and departs for its next
target.
The slings, once set in motion, oscillate at a period of 2.1 seconds, and at the peak of their swing, the tips
are travelling at 312 m/s, achieving the theoretical maximum velocity of the material (Figure 3-20). At the
extreme of each swing, the tip of the sling passes close to the exit ports near the asteroid’s equator, where
extremely strong rare Earth magnets on the tip of each sling adhere to a single 10 kg shot. The strength
of the permanent magnet on the tip and the remnant magnetism if the shot is calibrated such that the
adhesion strength is exceeded exactly at the full extension of the swing, where the centrifugal force is
maximized, hurling the shot astern of the asteroid at 312 m/s, and imparting a small but non-trivial 13
microns/sec ΔV onto the asteroid. At full “throttle”, with all slings operating, the asteroid accelerates at a
constant 11 micro-gs.
Figure 3-20: The movement of the RAMA spacecraft. The fluctuations of the sling arms back and forth would
make the movement of the RAMA spacecraft look similar to a jellyfish swimming through the ocean currents.
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This low impulse maneuver persists for 27 days. Each shot carries away a small fraction (0.55%) of the
sling’s energy with it. Over time, this loss will cause the slings to oscillating through a smaller arc and the
asteroid to spin at a slower rate. To compensate for this loss of energy, the flywheels, which have remained
spinning since they were charged by the Seed Craft, are slightly braked each time the slings reload,
imparting a slight transfer of angular momentum to the asteroid itself, and thus to the swing arms. A
summary of the sling performance as a propulsion system is shown in Table 3-19.
Table 3-19: Summary of the slings performance as a propulsion system from Rock Finder
This places the asteroid on an intercept path to Earth-Moon L5, where it is intercepted 249 days later after
a lunar flyby by a cislunar tug. The asteroid at this point is considerably lighter (34,000 mT vs 230,000 mT)
and the returned material is considerably “purer”, as 90% of the asteroids worthless mass (its stone) has
been ejected as propellant. The remaining mass is in the form of a pure metal flywheel and a hollow
reinforced shell approximating the original shape of the asteroid, with an average wall thickness of ~4 m.
The 30-year RAMA mission is complete, having delivered the mass equivalent of ~85 International Space
Stations to the Earth-Moon L5 location.
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3.7 M-TYPE ASTEROID MISSION ASSESSMENT
Pure metal asteroids present similar challenges to S-type asteroids, as they offer limited materials for
construction. The fact that they do not contain as much “waste” material as an S-type would further limit
the propulsive options, and ejecting a significant fraction of the mass of the asteroid would mean disposing
of much of the valuable metal that makes the asteroid of interest in the first place. Further complicating the
issue is that M-type asteroids are rare among the NEO population, and tend to occupy the space in the
main belt, thus requiring much more capable propulsive systems to return to Earth.
But in spite of these limits, M-type asteroid do present some interesting prospects for RAMA that warrant
future investigation. For example, the combination of their relatively high albedo (0.3-0.4) and distance
from the sun means their surfaces are typically much colder than those of other asteroids, so much so that
their surfaces may exist under the brittle-ductile transition temperature of iron/nickel. If the iron-nickel
surface of the asteroid is struck by an impactor while at this temperature, it will shatter into smaller
fragments. Over billions of years, this process may leave M-type asteroids coated with a fine metallic
powder, similar in size and structure to Lunar regolith. Such a fine metallic powder would be a perfect
feedstock for a Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) or Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) additive
manufacturing process. Complex structures could be built directly onto the exterior of the asteroid with
minimal materials processing or preparation.
For propulsion, the abundance of metals would permit the possibility of massive electromagnetic railguns,
or iron powder based propulsion systems such as the VAST, Vacuum-Arc Plasma Thruster [31]. The need
for ferromagnetic propellant would necessitate the loss of some of the asteroid’s valuable iron reserves,
but the theoretically enormous ejection velocities and high performance enabled by this propulsion system
would mean very little propellant needed to be consumed for a substantial ΔV.
Figure 3-21: An opportunistic window for a Seed Craft to visit two asteroids in sequence: 2009UY19 and
2001 FR85. Each converted asteroid returns to Earth after conversion, and the Seed Craft continues to the
next target without refurbishment.
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The wide range of capabilities afforded by the Seed Craft’s modular design does not limit it to one asteroid.
In cases where an opportunistic launch window is identified (where it becomes possible to visit multiple
asteroid in sequence without returning to Earth) then the Seed Craft can achieve even higher return on
investment. An example of such an opportunistic window is shown in Figure 3-21.
Identifying these opportunistic windows requires computational resources that are beyond the capabilities
of Rock Finder at the moment, but there is value in researching the option as a means to increase the
RAMA systems ROI.
TRL 6 2
The TRL of the technology from the Keck study is at a significantly more advanced state than the RAMA
technology. With an overall TRL of 6, the Keck study approach is surely feasible in the very near term,
while the TRL of 2 for the RAMA method warrants further development to reach mission readiness.
However, the asteroid retrieval mass return of the RAMA method may out weigh the up front development
cost needed to raise the TRL. The ARM approach is limited to ~15-meter size asteroids and smaller for
retrieval, while RAMA may convert any size asteroid, even beyond the 100-meter size. Further asteroid
detection work is needed to find plenty of 100-meter plus asteroid targets with high enough spin rates to
ensure that they are solid masses and not rubble piles. However, current research shows that these 100-
meter plus solid mass NEAs exist [26, 27]. The true benefit of the RAMA mission when compared to the
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current SOA missions, such as the Keck ARM study, is seen when factoring in the ratio of the asteroid
retrieval mass to the Earth launch mass. The comparison shown here considers a Seed Craft approaching
the mass of the Space Shuttle (~50mT) along with a very modest 75% propellant mass fraction (25%
asteroid original mass returned to cislunar space). With these assumptions, the returned asteroid mass
is over 100x more for the RAMA mission than for the ARM mission. Furthermore, the ARM mission
would commence after returning the first asteroid while the RAMA Seed Craft would continue on converting
more asteroids after sending the first one on its trajectory to cislunar space, essentially creating a steady
resource retrieval chain with the requirement of just one Earth launch.
As described by the mission comparison with the Keck ARM study, there are two substantial benefits of
the RAMA architecture over current state-of-the-art options for asteroid retrieval:
Mass Leveraging
The RAMA architecture allows for significant mass leveraging to occur by launching a relatively small Seed
Craft from Earth compared to the size of the asteroid retrieved. RAMA allows for 1000+ MT asteroids to
be returned by launching a ~50 MT Seed Craft, while the ARM architecture is capable of returning a ~10
MT asteroid by launching a 20 MT spacecraft. For humanity to truly harness the resource abundance of
the asteroids it is critical to create technologies for retrieving resources of useful size for industrial
processes.
One Launch vs. Many Launches
In addition to the mass leveraging capability of the RAMA architecture, the functionality of the Seed Craft
allows for a perpetual cadence of asteroid retrieval with only one launch from Earth. This presents a
significant advantage to all other proposed asteroid retrieval missions to date. Since the asteroid spacecraft
is constructed entirely from in-situ materials there is little limit to how many asteroids one Seed Craft can
retrieve.
Table 3-21: NASA Roadmap Technology Areas, Missions, and Associated RAMA Capabilities
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Tech. Area No. (T.A.) NASA Mission(s) Enabled or Enhanced RAMA Capability
2.3.7.1 DRM8a, DRM9, DRM9a, New Frontier: Push, Breakthrough Propulsion, In-situ
Planetary Flagship: Push created mechanical slings on asteroids
3.2.2.1; 3.2.2.2; 3.2.2.3 DRM6, DRM7, DRM8, DRM8a, DRM9, Large flywheels made in-situ
DRM9a
4.2.6.4; 4.2.6.5; Exploring Other Worlds, DRM7, DRM8, Mobility and manufacturing within the
4.2.7.1; 4.2.8.3 Planetary Flagship: Mars Sample Return asteroid body
4.3.6.1; 4.3.6.2; DRM7, DRM8, DRM8a, DRM9, DRM9a, New Robotic Drilling technology on Seed
4.3.6.3; Frontiers: Lunar South Pole Sample Return, Craft, Deep (100m) robotic drilling
Planetary Flagship: Mars Sample Return
4.3.6.4; 4.3.6.5; DRM7, DRM8, DRM8a, DRM9, DRM9a, New Sample acquisition, Sample handling,
4.3.6.6; 4.3.6.7 Frontiers: Lunar South Pole Sample Return, Regolith transfer from asteroid to Seed
Planetary Flagship: Mars Sample Return Craft for mfg., Seed craft robotic
excavation
7.1.4.8; 7.1.4.9; DRM7, DRM9, DRM9a, Exploring Other Solar powered sintering for soil
7.1.4.10 Worlds, Planetary Exploration stabilization
7.1.2.13; 7.1.2.15; DRM5-Asteroid Redirect, DRM7, DRM8, Dust and soil separation via Seed Craft
7.1.2.16; 7.1.2.17 DRM9, DRM9a processes
7.3.1.5 DRM5, DRM6 Crewed to NEA, DRM8, Seed craft anchoring to asteroid
Crewed to Mars Moons technology
12.4.1.1; 12.4.1.4; DRM5, DRM6, DRM7, DRM8, DRM8a, Innovative metallic in-situ mfg. process,
12.4.2.3 DRM9, DRM9a In-space assembly and fabrication
using asteroid resources, Additive
Manufacturing
67
tool itself is versatile and can be used for a variety of asteroid missions. During Phase I of this study outside
organizations have began working relationships with Made In Space to utilize Rock Finder for other
asteroid mission needs. Going forward, the RAMA team expects to build out Rock Finder to be a publicly
accessible tool that the industry can continually update with new asteroid data is it becomes available.
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4 PATH FORWARD
4.1 BUILDING SUPPORT FOR RAMA
Project RAMA is such a novel concept that it can easily be taken for science fiction. This report should
help dispel some of these beliefs and allow the aerospace community to consider the mission architecture
as a viable future path for addressing asteroid resource utilization plans. For Project RAMA to reach a full
level of viability a key part of the path forward lies in the need to build support for the concept. This requires
a level of educational awareness and integration of RAMA concepts into the overall technology roadmaps
within both NASA and the broader aerospace community.
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needed to maintain the manufacturing machines. Advanced robotic manufacturing technologies must
continue this development path for the Seed Craft to be equipped with the necessary technologies for
fulfilling the RAMA class missions. Pattern recognition, on the fly decision making, and automated control
will make the Seed Craft capable of performing the RAMA conversion process which for some asteroids
in a 10 year long continuous task done entirely without humans in the loop. Associated with these
technology needs are the needs of advancing in-space mining and resource processing technologies.
Without the ability to process the asteroid into manufacturing materials there will be no way to begin the
manufacturing process.
The Interstellar Extent of the RAMA Architecture – Self-Replicating AGI Space Exploration
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The ultimate manifestation of Artificial Intelligence, known as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) would
enable a new class of RAMA style space missions. AGI systems are characterized by being good at
learning and innovating on their own, much like humans do, and can become proficient at a wide array of
tasks. By combining AGI with a Seed Craft capable of replicating itself with asteroid resources, it will be
possible to create systems that can explore the far reaches of the galaxy with zero human intervention.
RAMA missions of this class will be extremely sophisticated, capable of learning new things about the star
systems they visit, selecting their own science goals, and making new decisions. One day we may send
an AGI empowered Seed Craft to Alpha Centauri, where it will explore the star system, transmit its findings
to Earth, replicate two new Seed Craft with AGI and resources available in the star system, before finally
move on to the next two closest stars. This process continuing for perpetuity would enable the vast
exploration of the galaxy at an exponentially increasing rate. Earth would relish in the steady stream of
data being sent back from each Seed Craft makes while exploring new solar systems.
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4.4.2 RISK ASSESSMENT
While there are a variety of risks for the RAMA mission architecture to come to fruition (programmatic,
cost, schedule, and technical), the most important risks to invest attention to at this early stage are the
technical risks. There are several yet undemonstrated technologies on the critical path, and the RAMA
concept may be infeasible without each one of them. The following technical risks also align with NASA
roadmap needs, so investment in burning down these risks will have a cross cutting benefit to other
missions and roadmap needs.
>1 MW Space Rated Power Systems: The rate at which critical RAMA processes take place, such as the
reduction of asteroid material and the production of RAMA craft components are not limited by mass or
volume constraints on the Seed Craft, but by the power available to drive them. In order to convert the
asteroid 2009UY19 in a realistic amount of time (<10 years) the Seed Craft required power systems with
a rated output of 4MW, thirty times greater than the output of any electrical power system currently in
space. If the RAMA architecture is to be extended to the main belt and Trojan asteroids, the use of solar
power becomes less practical, and alternate sources such as nuclear RTGs will have to be considered.
Microgravity Metal Additive Manufacturing: Made In Space has successfully demonstrated the
effectiveness of conventional extrusion based additive manufacturing methods in the microgravity
environment using polymer and composite feedstocks. Microgravity metal manufacturing is also under
development at Made In Space. In order to achieve widespread metal manufacturing in microgravity, large
scale metallic parts must be able to be manufactured in-situ. The RAMA slings are estimated to be on the
scale of 50m long. Today the leading metal AM methods rely on powder metal feedstocks, such as Direct
Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) and Laser Engineering Net Shaping (LENS). Powder methods pose
completely different challenges in microgravity than extrusion based methods, including the hazard of free
floating uncontained abrasive metal powder. Technologies must be developed to overcome these
challenges to enable large scale metallic structures to be manufactured in space.
Optical Mining Technologies: As noted by Sercel et al., the Optical Mining technology needs to be
demonstrated to higher power levels and longer durations (weeks or more). Additionally, the lens of the
system need to be developed to out live the mission life of a multi-decade Seed Craft. We should expect
to see investment in flight missions of this technology to raise TRL and establish it as a viable mining and
manufacturing technique for asteroids.
Robotic Manufacturing of Large Assemblies: The Seed Craft design is based heavily on the anticipated
developments of Seed Craft robotics and automated assembly of large structures. The SOA of robotic
manufacturing and assembly is still relatively small; capable of building assemblies that fit within a room
or high bay space. The flywheels of the RAMA spacecraft would be 10s of meters in diameter and would
require a new level of automated manufacturing technology. Investment in this area has many cross cutting
benefits to manufacturing uses on Earth (building construction, bridge construction, pipeline repair).
Asteroid Detection and Characterization: We are still in the very early days of having a full
understanding of where the asteroids are, their orbits, spin rates, compositions, and size. The RAMA
mission relies heavily on identifying asteroids of specific composition and knowing when their closest Earth
approach will be. For large scale asteroids, beyond 100 meter in diameter, it will also be important to build
a data set of such asteroids with fast enough spin rates to confirm that they are not rubble piles. The
answers to these increased asteroid detection program will drive Seed Craft designs.
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5 KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the work performed provides a strong case for the feasibility of the RAMA concept. Furthermore,
the study shows that there are both pros and cons to the RAMA architecture. For the asteroid 2009 UY19
for instance, it was shown that the full mission of converting it into a spacecraft and then having it fly itself
to Earth-Moon L5 would be a mission lasting over 30 years. While a long mission, it would also return to
the cislunar space an incredible material wealth far larger than the prospects of all SOA retrieval
architectures. It was shown that the RAMA architecture is a novel and proficient way to move and control
extremely large asteroids due to the fact that the propulsion system is manufactured in-situ and scales
with the size of the asteroid.
Challenges still remain for the RAMA concept to be fully viable. There is a need for further mission
development to reach full design specification of missions that are uniquely suited for RAMA style missions.
The importance of doing this is to justify the investments into the RAMA technology path over orthogonal
asteroid retrieval schemes. Along with this key challenge are the challenges of proving out the ability for
in-situ manufacturing of mechanical spacecraft subsystems. This report showed that an asteroid spacecraft
could be made from in-situ mechanical propulsion and energy storage. Advancing these ideas at a lab-
scale is a critical next step. Attitude control and GNC are two other key subsystems worthy of future
development as they may be tightly integral to the functions of the propulsion and energy storage
subsystems. Addressing these challenges, and with proper focus, the RAMA concept will be fully capable
in the next decade, which means that we could see initial asteroid conversion taking place only 15-20 years
from now.
The idea for retrieving asteroids to cislunar space dates back to over a hundred years. Since the early
days of the space industry engineers have designed missions to asteroids, calculated the theoretical
mission needs, and have proposed utilization goals for once the asteroid is delivered to an orbital outpost.
The near constant excitement and focus of these missions for such a long period of time signifies that it is
a mission worthy of pursuing, but to close the gap from mission concept to mission execution will require
a strong architecture that can absorb and amortize the large up front cost of development. Project RAMA
is a novel architecture that not only enables the return of asteroid resources over 100x larger than all other
SOA mission concepts, but also does so in a perpetual fashion enabling only one Earth launch vehicle to
return many asteroids over time. Today Project RAMA needs investment to move from mission concept
towards execution, but once these steps are taken it will enable access to the resource abundance of the
solar system for many generations to come.
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6 BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Joyce, E.R. and Michael P. Snyder, “Technologies Enabling Colonization of Near-Earth Asteroids,”
AIAA SPACE 2014 Conference & Exposition, August.
[2] National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Press Kit,”
URL: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/presskit/1996/NEAR_Press_Kit/NEARpk.txt [cited 1 Oct. 2015].
[3] Kennedy, K. J., Alexander, L., Landis, R., Linne, D., Mclemore, C., Santiago-Maldonado, E., "NASA
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