Mining Methods in Zero-G: Particle Separation by Density
College of Charleston
With modern-day advancements in space technology, each year shows new progress in our knowledge of space, and our abilities to travel through it. Keeping this in mind, it will not be long before teams will travel into space in search of new resources. Even before this can take place, space stations will be built and analysis of sediments from other planetary bodies will be done on board. With all of this will come a need for new methods of mining and sample analysis. Terrestrial mining utilizes methods based on the use or effects of gravity. In space such methods will be useless and other technologies will have to be developed. This proposal will outline a means of separating particles of relatively equal size according to their densities. In zero-gravity, densities will be distinguished based on particle acceleration. It is our plan to build a device, outlined in the following proposal which will push particles with uniform force and separate them according to the acceleration which they achieve. We feel that such research is necessary to overcoming the initial obstacles of mining in an extraterrestrial environment.
