Orbital Mining Module

Component Information
Type	Core
Class	Commercial
Tech Branch	Construction / Production
Specifications
Size (HS)	100
Size (Tons)	5000
Crew Required	50
Production Cost
Wealth (BP)	120
Duranium	{{{ducost}}}
Neutronium	{{{necost}}}
Corbomite	{{{cbcost}}}
Tritanium	{{{trcost}}}
Boronide	{{{bocost}}}
Mercassium	{{{mecost}}}
Vendarite	{{{vecost}}}
Sorium	{{{socost}}}
Uridium	{{{urcost}}}
Corundium	120
Gallicite	{{{gacost}}}

An orbital mining module is a medium sized ship module that can extract minerals from small solar bodies like asteroids and comets. They mine at the base researched rate modified by availability (a base rate of 10 tons mining minerals with .5 availability will produce 5 tons per year). The minerals are left on the planet until gathered by either a freighter or a mass driver. A colony must be present on the asteroid in order to store the minerals, or else the mining module will not operate.

The main limit on an asteroid mining module is the body's size. This limit can be increased with technology.

Maximum Diameter	Tech Cost
100km	Free
125km	2,000
160km	4,000
200km	8,000
250km	16,000
320km	32,000
400km	64,000
500km	125,000

Asteroid mining modules are very efficient for mining asteroids and comets as they allow the delivery of multiple mines with a single order - each one is 5,000 tons, while the cargo bay required to carry a Mine or Automated Mine is 25,000 tons. For bodies with large deposits, this matters relatively little, as mines can be moved once and run for years (whereas orbital miners need to stay in place). However, for small deposits, there's no point establishing major mining colonies just to tear them down a year later. Orbital mining can allow you to quickly clear out these small deposits and move on to the next, without abusing your freighter fleet in the process.