Difference between revisions of "Belters Guide to Asteroid Mining (IF)"
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=== Belter’s Guide to Asteroids === | === Belter’s Guide to Asteroids === | ||
| − | Prospecting in the Belt is equal parts skill, patience, and luck. The goal is to find what’s worth hauling or selling, while avoiding | + | Prospecting in the Belt is equal parts skill, patience, and luck. The goal is to find what’s worth hauling or selling, while avoiding months of work on a dead rock or being crushed, irradiated, being lost in space, psychosis, and other dangers. A prospector’s reputation comes not just from what they find, but from how cleanly they work and how well they protect a claim. |
'''1. First Approach''' | '''1. First Approach''' | ||
| − | From tens of thousands of kilometers out, basic classification is possible. Albedo and thermal readings tell you if it’s ice, rock, or regolith. | + | From tens of thousands of kilometers out, basic classification is possible. Albedo and thermal readings tell you if it’s ice, rock, or regolith. Spectroscopy — often done with a pulsed laser ablating a few milligrams — reveals likely surface minerals. Multiple readings from all over the body help map surface variation. Dust trails drifting from the asteroid can also be sampled, sometimes revealing signs of past or hidden mining activity. Collisions and mining releases plumes and dust that can be analyzed and backtracked. Every prospector has their own favorite tricks and superstitions as well kept secrets. |
'''2. Close Survey''' | '''2. Close Survey''' | ||
| − | Docking | + | Docking means matching spin — a slow rotator is simple, a tumbler needs grapples, nets, or harpoons. Once attached, the prospector runs a full survey: |
| − | * Ground-penetrating radar for internal | + | * Ground-penetrating radar for internal layers and cavities. |
| − | * Sonic mapping to | + | * Sonic mapping to detect density changes. |
| − | * Drill cores for | + | * Drill cores for assay and structural samples. |
| + | |||
| + | Spin state, stability, and proximity to trade routes matter almost as much as ore content — some otherwise marginal rocks are worth working just because they’re easy to reach and handle, but many of these have already been claimed. As mining expands, there are constantly new space and new orbits worth prospecting. Distant areas retain their profitable secrets, but are also less predictable and leave you further away from assistance. | ||
'''3. Selling the Claim''' | '''3. Selling the Claim''' | ||
| − | + | Large deposits of common ore — nickel-iron, silicates, carbonites, or volatiles — are medium-value. The fastest profit is to sell the claim to a mining company. They bring a tug to shift it into a refinery orbit, or send a portable processor. The body is bagged to contain debris, churned to powder, and fed to the refinery. Even rock asteroids get bagged to control fragments. Company work will always recover trace amounts of higher-value material, feeding the market and reducing the price of any such finds you mine yourself. | |
| − | '''4. High-Value | + | '''4. High-Value Prospecting''' |
| − | + | Small, rich pockets of rare materials — the kind worth keeping — call for precision work. Belters cut minimal access tunnels, extract only what they can carry, and preserve the rest for later sale. Tools range from fine mechanical cutters to micro-detonations and vacuum-safe chemical processes. | |
'''5. Claims and Cleanup''' | '''5. Claims and Cleanup''' | ||
| − | Leaving an asteroid | + | Leaving an asteroid worse than you found it marks you as trouble. Unused tailings should be bagged or shifted to a safe dump orbit. A clean, documented claim commands a higher price than a stripped husk drifting through the Belt. Netting or electrostatic collectors are used to trap dust, though careless crews skip this, leaving a trail others may analyze and trace back to the source — risking claim jumpers or quiet theft. This is also how micro-meteors are made, you may get lynched for endangering others. |
| + | |||
| + | === Jackpot Finds === | ||
| + | Gold has lost much of its rarity value — Belt mining produces far more than Earth ever did — but still sees industrial use in electronics and corrosion-resistant plating. True “jackpot” materials are those rare or hard to synthesize, including: | ||
| + | * '''Platinum group metals''' — iridium, osmium, platinum, palladium; critical for catalysis and high-performance alloys. | ||
| + | * '''Enriched isotopes''' — helium-3, lithium-6, and other reactor fuels; long-lived radioisotopes for medicine and power. | ||
| + | * '''Native volatiles''' — water ice, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, valuable only if near where they’re needed. | ||
| + | * '''Exotic crystals''' — naturally formed semiconductors, superconductors, or optics, impossible or costly to grow in labs. | ||
| + | * '''Native metals''' — nickel-iron cores with high cobalt content, prized for advanced alloys. | ||
| + | * '''Valuable Rocks''' — Some rocky asteroids are valuable because they can be used directly to provide shadow from sun storms, house habitats, bases, relay stations, observation bases, scientific research, or for other purposes. To realize such values your crew needs a wide range of knowledge, or consult with experts, who will claim a flat fee or a share of the proftis. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Belt prospecting is a high-danger, high-profit operation. | ||
| + | A single rich pocket of the right material can set a crew up to retire in luxury — or make them a target. | ||
Revision as of 23:36, 13 August 2025
Belter’s Guide to Asteroids
Prospecting in the Belt is equal parts skill, patience, and luck. The goal is to find what’s worth hauling or selling, while avoiding months of work on a dead rock or being crushed, irradiated, being lost in space, psychosis, and other dangers. A prospector’s reputation comes not just from what they find, but from how cleanly they work and how well they protect a claim.
1. First Approach From tens of thousands of kilometers out, basic classification is possible. Albedo and thermal readings tell you if it’s ice, rock, or regolith. Spectroscopy — often done with a pulsed laser ablating a few milligrams — reveals likely surface minerals. Multiple readings from all over the body help map surface variation. Dust trails drifting from the asteroid can also be sampled, sometimes revealing signs of past or hidden mining activity. Collisions and mining releases plumes and dust that can be analyzed and backtracked. Every prospector has their own favorite tricks and superstitions as well kept secrets.
2. Close Survey Docking means matching spin — a slow rotator is simple, a tumbler needs grapples, nets, or harpoons. Once attached, the prospector runs a full survey:
- Ground-penetrating radar for internal layers and cavities.
- Sonic mapping to detect density changes.
- Drill cores for assay and structural samples.
Spin state, stability, and proximity to trade routes matter almost as much as ore content — some otherwise marginal rocks are worth working just because they’re easy to reach and handle, but many of these have already been claimed. As mining expands, there are constantly new space and new orbits worth prospecting. Distant areas retain their profitable secrets, but are also less predictable and leave you further away from assistance.
3. Selling the Claim Large deposits of common ore — nickel-iron, silicates, carbonites, or volatiles — are medium-value. The fastest profit is to sell the claim to a mining company. They bring a tug to shift it into a refinery orbit, or send a portable processor. The body is bagged to contain debris, churned to powder, and fed to the refinery. Even rock asteroids get bagged to control fragments. Company work will always recover trace amounts of higher-value material, feeding the market and reducing the price of any such finds you mine yourself.
4. High-Value Prospecting Small, rich pockets of rare materials — the kind worth keeping — call for precision work. Belters cut minimal access tunnels, extract only what they can carry, and preserve the rest for later sale. Tools range from fine mechanical cutters to micro-detonations and vacuum-safe chemical processes.
5. Claims and Cleanup Leaving an asteroid worse than you found it marks you as trouble. Unused tailings should be bagged or shifted to a safe dump orbit. A clean, documented claim commands a higher price than a stripped husk drifting through the Belt. Netting or electrostatic collectors are used to trap dust, though careless crews skip this, leaving a trail others may analyze and trace back to the source — risking claim jumpers or quiet theft. This is also how micro-meteors are made, you may get lynched for endangering others.
Jackpot Finds
Gold has lost much of its rarity value — Belt mining produces far more than Earth ever did — but still sees industrial use in electronics and corrosion-resistant plating. True “jackpot” materials are those rare or hard to synthesize, including:
- Platinum group metals — iridium, osmium, platinum, palladium; critical for catalysis and high-performance alloys.
- Enriched isotopes — helium-3, lithium-6, and other reactor fuels; long-lived radioisotopes for medicine and power.
- Native volatiles — water ice, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, valuable only if near where they’re needed.
- Exotic crystals — naturally formed semiconductors, superconductors, or optics, impossible or costly to grow in labs.
- Native metals — nickel-iron cores with high cobalt content, prized for advanced alloys.
- Valuable Rocks — Some rocky asteroids are valuable because they can be used directly to provide shadow from sun storms, house habitats, bases, relay stations, observation bases, scientific research, or for other purposes. To realize such values your crew needs a wide range of knowledge, or consult with experts, who will claim a flat fee or a share of the proftis.
Belt prospecting is a high-danger, high-profit operation. A single rich pocket of the right material can set a crew up to retire in luxury — or make them a target.