Harnessing Solar Power
Before we can break the rock, we need energy. Instead of carrying heavy nuclear reactors or electrical lasers, Optical Mining uses the most abundant power source in the solar system: pure, unfiltered sunlight.
Inflatable Optics
Launching solid glass mirrors into space is far too heavy and expensive. Instead, spacecraft like the proposed "Mini Bee" use large, inflatable structures made of thin, reflective Mylar-like materials.
Once deployed in a vacuum, a tiny amount of gas inflates the structure into a perfect parabolic shape. These massive "light buckets" catch ambient sunlight and redirect the photons into a secondary focusing mirror, creating a concentrated beam of intense optical energy directed straight at the asteroid's surface.