As with anything in space manufacturing, patience and timing will be critical in logistics. Orbital dynamics and endpoint delivery would be considered years before project completion and in the case of a starship....distance to delivery point would obviously be irrelevant. The cost and danger of moving an asteroid into Earth orbit would be far too high to even consider such a thing and rather pointless considering where the end product is intended to be delivered.
You realize that one error would have all of your equipment, all of that investment flying through the universe with no chance of recovery for years, even millennia? Who said anything about it being a near Earth orbit? You could put it into an orbit far beyond the moon, leaving plenty of room for correction if necessary...
Yes....everything has risk and even more so in space, we do it anyway. Imagine if NASA showed such Cowardice, no moon landings. no space shuttle or station, no exploration. And that is just Government, private industry will not have the regulations.
Except you could move an object into an orbit, without having to risk significant losses due to error. There are so many things to go wrong with a manufacturing platform. Attempting it on an object in passing is a stupid risk, and a bad investment. Doing a thing in passing means having no ability to correct any problems. Perhaps you don't understand what manufacturing entails...
I think you may need to describe your concern a little more. Are you worried about losing control of a manufacturing platform? What kind of problem are you concerned about being able to correct?
Yes but that risk is basically the same on Earth . Does the value outweigh the risks? You don't have to go to space to lose your shirt. And everything else.
Think about in terms of investment and seeking investors. Space manufacturing is a lot of moving parts and a whole lot of rocket science, nothing terrestrial compares. Placing asteroids or meteors into a set orbit would just be a smarter choice than trying to do a meet and greet, manufacture, and return. Too many things could go wrong with zero chance to get any return on the investment. Even if you crashed your manufacturing platform into an orbiting rock you could recover some of it in the future, if you over shoot the target you could turn around and try again, you can't do that on a passing object...
I agree there is a lot to work out regarding mining asteroids, launching stuff from Mars or whatever. There is a LOT to be gained before we do any of that.
