For a moment, I was wondering if it was more effective at mining than the Dead Space method of lifting up chunks of planets and picking them apart out of orbit.



Then I realized that you were going for something that only scooped up debris already in space.



It does feel like there's less potential for finds that way, but I could also see the use for one of these (I'd imagine these are sent out after any space battle where a round doesn't connect, and must crunch it before it hits anything with life on it).