Prospecting intelligence
Fuse telescope, mission, spectral, thermal, orbit, and economics data into a ranked target book.
- Water probability and extraction confidence
- Delta-v and launch window scoring
- Customer-route fit for depots and tugs
System architecture
Mining is only one layer. The product is an off-Earth supply chain.
DVE has to behave like a space resource intelligence company, robotics company, refinery operator, and logistics network before it earns the right to call itself a mining company.
Autonomous movers
Small bodies and product tanks move through a scheduler that optimizes propellant, time, and risk.
- Soft anchoring, clamp rigs, and station-keeping
- Ion or solar-electric transport where time allows
- Common processing points, not heroic asteroid dragging
Extraction robots
The extraction plant should learn the rock: heat profile, volatile response, dust behavior, and yield.
- Regolith intake, thermal release, vapor capture
- Redundant seals, filters, storage bladders, radiators
- Fault-tolerant autonomy for long communication loops
Depot-grade refining
Water can be sold directly; oxygen and hydrogen are produced when route demand pays for complexity.
- Water storage, electrolysis, liquefaction, metering
- Docking interfaces and customer transfer standards
- Telemetry-backed custody of every kilogram
Extraction detail
The first mine is a test stand in vacuum.
Every early mission should be designed to increase yield confidence: validate hydration signals, test anchoring, measure thermal release, capture actual water, and publish operational truth internally.
First software moatTarget book, yield model, route optimizer, depot inventory model.
First hardware moatAutonomous extraction cartridge with anchoring, heating, capture, and metering.
First customer proofIn-space water or propellant transfer contract before large-scale extraction claims.
First public milestoneDemonstrated off-Earth volatile capture and measured storage loss.