2010 - 19th Annual NC State Undergraduate Research Spring Symposium

Session Time : 4/22/10 10:30 AM - 4/22/10 11:45 AM

Content Area : Materials Science & Engineering

Student Presenters :
Charles Ryan West ISE

Mentors and/or Co-Authors :
Jag Kasichainula Materials Engineering

Abstract Title : The feasibility creating of large structures using physical vapor deposition of asteroids

Abstract :
The proposed method consists of placing nickel/iron asteroid material in the focus of a large thin film reflector (such as aluminized Mylar) and vaporizing it using reflected sunlight. Over a significant period of time, the reflector would acquire a thick coating of nickel/iron and become metal plate. Fairly arbitrary shapes (such as rocket nozzles) could be produced by placing a thin film form near the vaporization point and receiving a portion of the nickel/iron vapor. This work focuses on the soundness of the basic concept and its practical applications.
Experiments were carried out using a 150 millijoule 8 nanosecond pulse UV laser and a nickel/iron meteor sample to estimate the deposition rate of a large thin film solar reflector and a nickel/iron asteroid. A linear increase in deposition rate vs power was assumed in this analysis.
Based on our experiment results and assumptions, a large solar collector would achieve a deposition rate of .13 cm per year. This means that a ~10 kg reflector could transform itself into 1 cm thick plate with a mass of ~49 tons in ~7.68 years. Such a structure could be made 4900 times cheaper than if it was launched from Earth and would have a per kg cost of only $9/kg (using current launch costs of $20,000/lb to geosynchronous orbit). Further analysis is require but the concept appears viable.