Agricultural Manufacturing Raw Materials from Asteroid Mining (or Fuel Refining?)

[rinku]

It's a can of worms. You can't cover every angle, and a lot of them are important.

You may *just* be able to map it out to food production costs, but as soon as you stray away from basic farming on a nice planet (which we can reality check) you run into imponderables such as turning carbon rich ores into apples or grinding up regolith to make sterile soil.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Projecting the speculative trade tables into general production is always going to result in issues, as is fact checking 21st century costs with TL12 ones.

I take it that the items on those tables are surplus production the planet doesn't need and you might be able to buy it for export at less than the going rate. Things above the going rate are things with planetary tariffs on to discourage export.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

you run into imponderables such as turning carbon rich ores into apples or grinding up regolith to make sterile soil.

From NASA.gov

The answer to the first question is a resounding yes. Plants can grow in lunar regolith. They were not as robust as plants grown in Earth soil, or even as those in the control group grown in a lunar simulant made from volcanic ash, but they did indeed grow. And by studying how the plants responded in the lunar samples, the team hopes to go on to answer the second question as well, paving the way for future astronauts to someday grow more nutrient-rich plants on the Moon and thrive in deep space.

So regolith is yes. Probably ways will be developed to increase fertility over time.

 

[WingedCat]

If you have an Advanced Fabricator, @Geir agreed in a back and forth that it would have a deconstructor in it as well (nano machines, you see)

Why bother? Smelters do the job in bulk already.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Why bother? Smelters do the job in bulk already.

In this case, it would be a matter of having the hardware already at hand. Smelters do do the work, but this would be another option if one didn't desire having both.

 

[rinku]

Yes. Ultratech fabricators are dominant at small scale, such as an outpost or starship.

However a general purpose robot or a skilled sophont goes a long way too. I expect a work droid or character with the right skill could build you a shelter in a forest much faster than your fab can print one out, and that's assuming it already has a supply of materials and a design downloaded.

Actually, there's a though for a design, Terry. Bot brain for a fabricator, loaded with appropriate design skills. We're staring to see AI -> 3d print file design -> print even now. By TL13 there may be less community resistance.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Actually, there's a though for a design, Terry. Bot brain for a fabricator, loaded with appropriate design skills. We're staring to see AI -> 3d print file design -> print even now. By TL13 there may be less community resistance.

As robots are size limited to size 8, it would need to be a vehicle, which introduces other issues and costs. I could build them, but instead, I give you the Fabricator Attendant.

It is skilled in designing patterns for users in a commercial setting and can display them holographically and with high fidelity audio to make the sale. It is equipped with a defensive self-destruct device to make certain that proprietary patterns are never stolen.

 

[Terry Mixon]

And if you simply must have a robotic fabricator, I can stuff one that can make size 6 robots into a size 8 robotic body. It even has carouse and persuade to get more sales!

"How about them Imperials this year? I think they are going all the way!"

 

[rinku]

I'm now getting dieselpunk images of seedy alien roadside vendors with an alleged robot thing maker.

"Customer coming! Quick! Quick! More scrap in hopper! Quiiiiick!"

 

[rinku]

I should also disclose that I have myself felt the power of fabrication. I got a small resin printer a couple of years ago for a few hundred dollars that I mostly use to print out miniatures whose designs I purchase online. It's a game changer for an old nerd who lives in a regional city in a regional state of a regional country. I've even used it to design and make A Thing I found a need for (a handy bracket hook to put my PC headphones on). Took a few hours to print and probably cost $2 in resin. But I expect a proper factory could churn it out for cents in minutes.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Yes, yes! Let the power of the fabricator flow through you!

 

[Condottiere]

Hmm.

That is an extractive process.