Each drone strips ore from the surface at a fixed base rate; total throughput scales with the drone count and the extraction-rate multiplier, and in-situ processing (refining ore into usable product on site instead of shipping raw rock) adds a fixed efficiency bonus.
Extraction rate: R = n_drones · r0 · rate · (1 + 0.4 · processing)
Mass extracted: ΔM = R · Δt
Remaining mass: M(t) = M0 − ∫R dt, clamped to 0
Market value: ΔV = ΔM · price(type)
price(C-type) ≈ $8,000/t (water & organics — rocket propellant, life support)
price(S-type) ≈ $120,000/t (nickel-iron + minor platinum-group metals)
price(M-type) ≈ $2,500,000/t (concentrated platinum, iridium, gold)
- Target asteroid — C-type bodies are the most common (~75%) and rich in water/organics; S-type carry silicates and metals; M-type are the rarest but by far the most valuable per tonne.
- Mining drones — each one is an independent InstancedMesh unit orbiting the body and beaming ore back to the collector ship.
- Extraction rate — throttles how aggressively the fleet works the surface.
- In-situ processing — refines ore before transport, cutting wasted mass and raising the effective value per tonne shipped.
Figures are illustrative, scaled for a short demo rather than a real mission timeline — but the relative economics (M-type ≫ S-type ≫ C-type value per tonne) match the real trillion-dollar-market framing behind asteroid-mining proposals.