Overby Industries operates the only fully contained, zero-debris asteroid mining system in development. Every miner pod carries its own collapsible containment bag — a sealed industrial envelope that captures every fragment, every dust particle, and every volatile before any material can enter the surrounding space environment.
The containment bag is not a separate piece of equipment — it is an integral structural component of every Overby miner pod. It deploys from the miner frame, seals around the excavation site, captures all material during drilling and processing, and then collapses and folds back into the miner body, ready for redeployment at the next site. The miner and the bag operate as a single unified system.
Ore is crushed, sorted, and pre-refined inside the bag before transfer to the outpost processor, maintaining zero-contact with the ambient space environment throughout the entire extraction cycle. Inspired by NASA's ARM bagging concepts but operating as an active processing environment, not just a collection vessel.
Miner pod deploys anchor arms and harpoon clamps to the asteroid surface. Electrostatic adhesion pads supplement mechanical grip. Drill reaction forces are absorbed by the frame — the miner stays fixed while drilling proceeds.
The containment bag unfolds and expands from the miner's forward bay, sealing around the target excavation zone. The bag material — a multi-layer metallised polymer composite — is rated for micrometeorite resistance, thermal cycling, and the electrostatic charge environment of asteroid surfaces.
Mechanical rotary drills and abrasive saw heads cut into the asteroid surface. All generated dust, chips, fragments, and volatile gases are captured immediately within the sealed bag environment. Zero material escapes into surrounding space at any stage of excavation.
Inside the bag, primary sorting begins: electromagnetic separation isolates ferrous metallic material; density separation distinguishes silicate from metallic fractions; volatile capture membranes collect H₂, CO₂, CH₄, and water vapour. The bag functions as a mobile pre-processing plant.
Sorted ore fractions are compacted into sealed transfer canisters and passed through the miner's docking port to the outpost processor for full refining. Residual dust and slag are compacted into standard shielding blocks — no material is discarded.
Once the site is exhausted, the bag collapses and folds back into the miner frame automatically. The miner relocates to the next target site under its own ion thrusters. Full redeployment cycle from collapse to next excavation: under 90 minutes.
The same base vehicle — power unit, propulsion stack, anchor system, and bag deployment mechanism — reconfigures in the field for asteroid mining, orbital debris reclamation, or outpost construction support. A single platform type serving multiple roles reduces fleet complexity, spare parts inventory, and training requirements across all operations.
Every miner swarm deploys with a complement of specialised builder and maintainer droids. Each droid type is purpose-engineered for a specific role within the mining and outpost construction ecosystem, operating autonomously under swarm coordination protocols managed by the Starlifter II mothership or the local outpost processor node.
Builder droids assemble outpost processor nodes from prefabricated structural modules, connect power and data conduits, install ore transfer manifolds, and expand outpost capacity as production rates increase. They work continuously in vacuum using magnetic anchoring feet and multi-axis manipulator arms rated for loads up to 800kg in microgravity.
Maintainer droids keep the miner fleet operational without Starlifter II returning for servicing. They inspect miner pods and outpost components on a continuous cycle, replace worn drill heads and bag segments, clear dust accumulation from sensors, patch micro-damage, and recharge ionic liquid reserves. A single maintainer droid can service up to six miner pods per 24-hour cycle.
Assembled on-site by builder droids using prefabricated modules, each outpost processor node accepts ore transfer canisters from multiple simultaneous miner pods, runs full refining operations continuously, and builds up a stockpile of finished product ready for Starlifter II cargo loading on arrival.
Critically, outpost processors continue operating after Starlifter II departs. The miner swarm keeps excavating, the droids keep maintaining, the processor keeps refining — and when Starlifter returns, a full cargo hold of finished ingots, shielding blocks, and volatile canisters is waiting. The asteroid site runs as a continuous production facility, not a mission.
Nickel-iron alloy bars and cobalt ingots cast in standardised dimensions for Starlifter II cargo loading. PGMs electrolytically stripped and sealed in armoured canisters.
H₂ and O₂ cracked from water ice; CH₄ from carbonaceous asteroid volatiles. Stored as cryogenic gas in pressure vessels. Replenishes Starlifter II propellant tanks on arrival.
UHPC aggregate, basalt fibre composite panels, and sintered regolith bricks produced from non-metallic asteroid fractions and mining waste silicates.
Dust, slag, and non-recoverable residue compacted into standardised shielding blocks used for outpost radiation protection, backfill of exhausted excavation sites, and traded as orbital construction material.
The Overby LEO Space Dock is the commercial face of the entire resource network — a permanent low Earth orbit marketplace and logistics hub where asteroid-derived materials, propellant packages, shielding stock, and construction elements are available for immediate transfer to any customer with orbital access. No waiting for a deep-space delivery. No Earth launch cost for in-space material. Everything priced against the cost of launching from Earth — and significantly cheaper.
The Space Dock also serves as the primary servicing facility for the Starlifter II fleet — propellant resupply, miner pod maintenance, cargo transfer, and crew rotation all occur here before and after deep-space missions. It is both a commercial marketplace and an operational base, making it the most strategically valuable fixed asset in the Overby network.
"You need something — we've got it. Already in orbit. No launch window required."
The Overby Space Dock operates on the same principle as every other node in the Overby network: every resource gathered ethically, every product delivered sustainably, every transaction certified zero-waste. The market is open. The prices are stellar.