"IMV-27 ´Ruhr´ asteroid mining vessel" by Henrik Sabelkatten Giese

Test to see how it looks (and fish for comments :D ). Pencil drawing, scanned and colored in MS Paint. Inspired by the game "2038 - Tycoons of the asteroid belt" and The Nuclear Rocket Homepage.

Concept for a "real life technology" space vessel, thus the large radiator panels and open structure. Mineral-rich asteroids are cut into pieces by robots and EVA:ing spacers and then ferried to the mining vessel. The large pices of asteroid are crushed and pre-sorted in a module (mostly hidden) in the bow of the ship, worthless rock is expelled, and the remaining ore is shuttled to the aft of the ship were it's melted and different metals separated. Once they have cooled blocks of metal are stored in the open space ahead of the smelter assembly. At regular intervalls unmanned shuttles bring new supplies and carry away the refind metals.

Power is provided by a molten-core nuclear reactor in the far aft of the ship. The reactor is directly cooled by a droplet radiator (liquid coolant is sprayed into space and collected in the ring-shaped structure). The large radiator panels are for keeping the rest of the ship at a working temperature, while the crew quarters have their own small radiators.

Ahead of the large radiators are the reaction mass tanks, and at the bow of the ship are the crew quarters, working spaces and supply storage. During long transits the smaller module beside the primary crew module is extended away from the ship and then spun to provide artificial gravity.

Technically I think the ship is feasable, but economically... Not for quite a while!