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2005-12-26 Science & Technology

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Posted by Anonymoose 2005-12-26 16:20|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 how many tubes? same as when it had ballistic missiles? seems it frees up space

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-12-26 17:20|| 2005-12-26 17:20|| Front Page Top

#2 Conversion of one of these boats must be mind-boggling. First of all, the Tridents were originally over-designed, on the concept that both their computers (and computer refrigeration systems) and missiles were going to get increasingly large--then just the opposite happened.

Their missile tubes actually have adaptors in them for the smaller missiles, and they have lots of empty space inside, so much so that they have to carry an inordinate amount of lead ballast just to sink.

Again, as a research ship these could put the Glomar Explorer and Challenger to shame. I'm talking literally quadrillions of dollars of mineral wealth underseas, that is just too valuable to pass up. Once it's mapped, it would be irresistable to mining companies, worth far more than undersea oil.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-12-26 18:05|| 2005-12-26 18:05|| Front Page Top

#3 Manganese nodules worth jillions, right out there for the taking. Course you gotta cut the dolphins in for 25% right off the top, then there's the Orca problem... still there's money to be made, if you can find any use for an additional 500,000 tons of manganese a year.

Posted by Leon Clavin 2005-12-26 18:20|| 2005-12-26 18:20|| Front Page Top

#4 22 missile tubes are replaced by 154 vertical launch Tomahawk tubes (7 per). They also modified 2 missile tubes as airlocks for the seals. That also leaves 2 decks under the tomahawks for extra crew/seals/equipment.

Posted by ed 2005-12-26 19:45|| 2005-12-26 19:45|| Front Page Top

#5 Leon Clavin: mining is a peculiar proposition. Surface mining today for non-ferrous metals is almost exclusively for low and very-low grade ores. The high, medium, and most of the low-grade stuff has been gone for a long time.

But, if you *could* mine high and medium grade ores, your profits for a whole series of minerals would be exceptional. It is literally the difference between mining a few thousand tons of rock vs. mining several MILLION tons of rock, to get the same amount of product at the end.

Platinum, for example, is highly valued for car catalytic converters. The amount of platinum molecules coughed out by car exhausts makes roadside dust have about the same concentration of platinum as is in raw, low-grade platinum ore. At about $950/oz., you mine it where you can get it, be it in the Congo or half a mile underwater.

In copper mining, gold is a by-product. That is, so much ore is smelted for the copper, that significant amounts of gold is recovered, too. It exists in trace amounts in the ore. At times, when the price of copper is low and gold is high, some copper mines actually make more money off of the gold than the copper.

I've no idea how manganese figures into this, but it is probably only suggested because it would be relatively easy to recover with a "scooping", rather than a real mining operation.

A real undersea mining operation would first require a whole series of core drilling operations, followed by the use of tons of explosives to break up the sea floor. Then, something either like a dredging operation or a vertical conveyor belt would be used to pull the ore up to a waiting ship.

Inherently expensive, they wouldn't want any ore that wasn't high or medium grade, which is why they would want a thorough mapping of the resource ahead of time, something a research submarine would be well-equipped to do.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-12-26 20:27|| 2005-12-26 20:27|| Front Page Top

#6 If nothing else underwater mining will give the Environuts a collective coronary :)

Almost worth the price just for that.

Posted by CrazyFool 2005-12-26 21:45|| 2005-12-26 21:45|| Front Page Top

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