Products and Services from Asteroidal and Lunar Materials -- Per-Man-Enterprizes

In this competitive world, whoever develops these products and services first will have an enormous lead over the competition and be well positioned for the forseeable future. New blue chip companies and billionaires are certain to emerge in this new frontier.

Solar Power Satellite being produced from asteroidal materials. More than 99% of the mass of SPSs can be readily produced from asteroidal materials in the mid-term. (In reality, the asteroid would be bagged, not exposed, in order to prevent dirt from creating orbital debris.) Source: SSI (Space Studies Institute), SSI website at http://www.ssi.org

Solar Power Satellite (SPS) - producing electricity in orbit from the sun, and radio-beaming it to power plants on Earth. Located in geostationary orbit above Earth.

Source: SSI (Space Studies Institute), SSI website at http://www.ssi.org

A receiving antenna (rectenna) on Earth converts the SPS radio beam into electricity for wiring to homes, offices, factories, etc., by regular power lines. The microwave radio beam is safe, with crops and livestock underneath it, and safe to birds and airplanes.

Source: Boeing Company, artist Jack Olson, produced with the support of NASA and US Dept. of Energy sponsored studies of SPS.

A list of potential products and services, in rough order from near term to long term, made from asteroidal and/or lunar materials, follows.

Table of Contents:

Prerequisites for a product to be made from asteroidal and/or lunar material

Fuel propellants

For raising satellites from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous Earth orbit
For stationkeeping and maneuvering of near future satellite constellations (e.g., Teledesic and competitors)
For a number of other emerging space operations

Medium-sized, next-generation, "large" communications satellite platform. The beams of the platforms, the large antennas, bulk radiation shielding (not pictured), and fuel propellants for stationkeeping could come from asteroidal and/or lunar materials. Eventually, the solar cell power plant and heat radiators, too. In any case, who can compete with services from this? Not Teledesic or Iridium. It will make a lot of competitors obsolete, so if you can't beat us, join us.

Artist: David Egge. Copyright owner: Gary C. Hudson (Hudson Engineering, Menlo Park, CA); used in his newsletter "The Commercial Space Report". This is an illustration of an orbital antenna farm as proposed by the Director of COMSAT Labs, Burt Edelson.

PERMANENT has a commentary article on the next generation communications satellites entitled The Next Space Race -- by Multinationals

Communications satellites platforms and antennas -- bigger is better when it comes to antennas, power sources and platforms

Emergency rescue or repair services for communications satellites

Shielding - from solar and cosmic radiation, orbital debris and micrometeors, thermal shielding of the cold -- for all kinds of space facilities and satellites (under construction)

Construction materials for walls, beams, other structural members (under construction)

Solar ovens for industrial facilities (under construction)

"Silicon Orbit"; -- faster computer chips in the competitive markets on Earth (under construction)

Precious metals from asteroids (under construction)

Aerobrake heat shields for returning heavy cargoes to Earth (under construction)

Electric power systems in space, and solar cell semiconductors (under construction)

Energy from space for Earth economies: Solar Power Satellites (SPS)
Note: The pages on solar power satellites were mostly written way back in the 1980s, but I'm keeping them on the website rather than throwing them away because a lot of the content is still relevant. Some is, some is not.

The Solar PowerSat (SPS) Concept
PowerSats compared to other energy sources
Environmental Issues Beam Effects
N Non-Beam Issues
Communications
Technical issues
Political history of the PowerSat
Bootstrapping to PowerSats

Biotechnology

Space Tourism

Giant telescopes (radio, optical) for scientific study (including SETI or Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence of revolutionary capabilities

Re-using rockets' spent fuel tanks in orbit (not a product from asteroidal or lunar material, but applicable to such missions)

General benefits to Earth peoples, and world issues

For PERMANENT information on some companies, organizations and individuals who are looking into missions related to utilization of asteroidal and/or lunar materials, see the PERMANENT Mission Plans and Concepts section § 8.

Roadmap to related topics:

(XR) Space colonies for corporate communities