Ice Mining

Ice Mining by Moon Master Jaxan Brax

Introduction
Ice mining is the process of mining, essentially, comet fragments like other ores in the same way as asteroids and moon goo. Ice can be reprocessed into materials primarily used in fuel block production such as isotopes (Hydrogen, Helium, Nitrogen, Oxygen) but also other valuable materials (Heavy Water, Liquid Ozone, Strontium Clathrates). Do not mine Gelidus as it has the lowest yield of all ice materials once reprocessed! Ice can be compressed.

Ice exists in known-space but also rarely in wormholes in Shattered Wormhole systems. Ice mining in a Shattered Wormhole is particularly dangerous (or content-generating) as the many connections present in such a hole provide that much more opportunity for being attacked while mining. Unlike all other ores, one CANNOT short-cycle their ice mining modules for a reduced amount of ore. Each ice mining cycle yields exactly one unit of ice with a volume of exactly 1,000 m3. If you short-cycle your ice mining modules, you will receive no ore. If two or more pilots are mining the same ice asteroid and it is 1,000 m3 away from depletion, whoever finishes their ice mining module's cycle time first receives the ore while the other pilots receive none.

Certain types of ice asteroids are more desirable than others.