Methods and Feasibility of Antimatter Mining?

Say 200-300 years in the future, humankind has colonized much of the solar system, using a combination of laser thermal drives and solid-core nuclear rockets (fusion never really panned out). Suddenly, astronomers spot an odd object entering the solar system. The object turns out to be a kilotonne-scale chunk of rock, ordinary in every way except for the fact that the thing is made entirely of antimatter. Collisions with the interplanetary medium, and the energy they give off, slow down the object sufficiently for it to be captured by the solar gravity field and enter a slowly-decaying orbit somewhere in the region of Neptune. Obviously, this rock is a potentially enormous fuel source for both antimatter drives and commercial power reactors. The question is, how exactly is one going to get antimatter out of this thing? You can't exactly land equipment on it and start mining, and it's not like you can just start chipping off pieces of it. So, how exactly would one go about mining an asteroid made of antimatter? Also, for extra points, how plausible is the scenario laid out in the question, where an antimatter asteroid enters a slowly decaying orbit in the near edge of the Kuiper belt, and how long could such an orbit last.

Note: It has been brought to my attention that collisions with the interstellar medium may not be sufficient to slow the asteroid. As a result, a gravity assist from Neptune or a Kuiper Belt Object may be involved to make the capture of this asteroid more feasible.

posted about 5 years ago

Gryphon‭

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