Phase 3 – The fully automated mining fleet that begins physical extraction and initial in-situ resource utilization once probe data confirms viability and the fleet has arrived at the target asteroid.
Deploy a swarm of specialised mining vessels (built on the universal modular core) to locate, anchor to, and extract material from the asteroid. Operations start fully automated/teleoperated for maximum safety, speed, and economic validation before any crewed presence.
All initial mining and ISRU is fully automated. Crewed habitat modules and human oversight are only deployed once the operation has proven stable, profitable, and safe. This dramatically reduces risk and accelerates the timeline to first revenue.
Requirement: Once Phase 0 reconnaissance data is approved and Phase 1 orbital manufacturing is complete, the full autonomous mining fleet shall be deployed to the target asteroid using standardised UMP cores and PIS-v1 interfaces.
Rationale: Ensures mining operations begin only after all prerequisites are met, maximising safety and economic viability.
Open Questions: None at v0.7
Requirement: The mining fleet shall operate as a coordinated swarm with real-time peer-to-peer communication, collision avoidance, and dynamic task allocation under central ASI oversight with operator veto.
Rationale: Enables efficient, scalable extraction across large asteroid surfaces without constant human intervention.
Requirement: Every mining vessel shall use UMP-compatible anchoring, drilling, and excavation modules capable of secure attachment and controlled material removal while preserving asteroid structural integrity.
Rationale: Prevents uncontrolled fragmentation and ensures safe, repeatable extraction operations.
Requirement: Mining vessels shall perform initial in-situ resource utilization (sorting, crushing, smelting) on-board and output standardised ingots or pellets compatible with orbital manufacturing and base construction.
Rationale: Reduces transport mass and enables immediate use of extracted materials.
Requirement: The mining fleet shall maintain N+3 redundancy at swarm level so that loss of multiple vessels does not halt operations.
Rationale: Ensures continuous production even under partial fleet failure scenarios far from resupply.
Requirement: All fleet telemetry, resource yields, and system health data shall be relayed in real time to the nearest command node or hollowed base via PIS-v1 with full operator access and veto authority.
Rationale: Maintains complete visibility and control during automated operations.
Requirement: All mining vessels shall support hot-swapping of excavation, processing, and propulsion modules while remaining operational.
Rationale: Maximises uptime and allows in-flight reconfiguration without returning to base.
Requirement: The entire mining fleet shall be designed for ≥200-year service life with graceful degradation, field-repairable via ISRU spares, and pre-engineered TSP-v1 upgrade pathways.
Rationale: Supports long-term, sustainable asteroid resource extraction across multiple campaigns.
Requirement: The mining fleet shall support seamless material transfer and operational handover to hollowed asteroid bases once they become operational, including direct docking and hot-swap compatibility via PIS-v1.
Rationale: Ensures continuous production flow from automated extraction directly into permanent base infrastructure without interruption.
Requirement: The entire mining fleet shall be pre-engineered for TSP-v1 supersession, retaining full self-sustaining capability even if individual vessels are upgraded or retired, with graceful degradation over centuries.
Rationale: Allows continuous evolution of mining technology without decommissioning functional assets, supporting multi-century resource extraction campaigns.