Planetary Resources managed to craft a replica Arkyd spacecraft, using metals extracted from a prehistoric meteorite.
(The Monitor Daily, US) –Planetary Resources has achieved an impressive feat. The mining company used alien materials to create metals, later to be used to fashion the replica of a spacecraft.
Asteroid mining is considered to be quite a recent term. Basically, it means to take advantage of all the junk floating around in space and turn it into valuable resources. Planetary Resources, the new asteroid mining company feels that there are billions of materials out there, ready and able to be harvested.
The company stresses out the fact that, someday, Earth’s natural resources will be gone, and mankind will have to search for other sources of materials. And it seems that space has a lot to offer in terms of materials.
Now, on to the company’s achievement. During this year’s CES, Planetary Resources unveiled a rather unusual object. At the first glance, the object resembles the spacecraft which will go to be used in future mining mission. And yes, Planetary Resources is planning on building a spaceship from scratch, one that will be capable of carrying out mining missions.
But, as we begin to comprehend, this is no ordinary replica, because the model spaceship was built entirely using otherworldly materials. The model in question is the Arkyd spacecraft, Planetary Resource’s own design, and probably the future of space travel.
Mining company used alien materials to create metals via a state-of-the-art 3D printer. The object used to supply the building material for the replica spacecraft, was a meteorite which landed in Argentina in prehistorical times.
Using a 3D printer to extract the necessary components from the meteorite, the scientists working for Planetary Resources managed to craft a replica spacecraft.
The machine used to create the miniature ship was a direct 3D printing system called ProX DMP 320 direct metal printer. The process of printing metal is quite tricky. According to the specialists, the first thing you’ve got to do in order to transform chunks of space rock into useable materials is to fill the machine with the appropriate materials.
After doing that, the 3D printing device exposes the chunks a rock to a superheated plasma, thus transforming the rocks into a cloud. The cloud then begins to condense, letting out small drops of metallic powder. Using a vacuum system, these pellets of metal are extracted from the printer.
The pellets must then undergo several refining processes before they can be used to build stuff.
The mining company used alien materials to create metals, thus showing us that the future is out there, among the stars.
Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org
