manufacturing facility is 58 t, the mass of waste available for mass driver reaction mass is 2 • 58 t = 116 t, more than required. The mass driver reaction engine leaves the first asteroid at month 12 + 3 = 13, and arrives at the second at month 15 + 8 = 23. The time between arrival at the first asteroid and the beginning of its return to earth orbit will now be determined. The large mass driver reaction engines which return the asteroid are constructed when the space manufacturing facility rate of construction becomes great enough that the large mass driver reaction engines are constructed fast enough that the time between arrival at the asteroid and the beginning of its return is minimum. First the number and mass of large mass driver reaction engines must be found. From the rocket equation. The rate at which mass is exhausted in a length of time At is Let I be the rate of exhaust of each large mass driver reaction engine. Then the number of large mass driver reaction engines required is Since the rate of construction per space manufacturing facility copy is 32.2 t/mo., the minimum time until completion of the large mass driver reaction engines is reached at the 11th generation, when the rate of construction is 2^ • 32.2 t/mo. = 6.59x 10^ t/mo The construction then takes
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==