Slashdot Mirror
NASA On Mining Extraterrestrial Sources
FortKnox writes "Looks like something from the game "Homeworld", but NASA discusses mining ore from planets/asteroids or any other source of "Cosmic Dirt"." I remember debating this idea in high school debate - it's a wonderful idea.
This has profound implications for new ventures into the wonderful world of hallucinations.
In this recent article, Honda said it had contracted Asimo out to do receptionist work for IBM. Working as a miner would be so much cooler. With the miner's union on the decline for the last 50 years, this could really be a killer blow :)
BEN
That's good thinking on NASA's part, because after being cooped up in a spaceship on a multi-month trip to Mars, I'd be in a mood for a few hours with any 'ore I could find.
Ba Dum Bum.
...Or any other of a hundred disasters waiting to happen.
One of the big, big problems I see with interplanetary mining is the inherent possibilities for danger in the celestial shipment process.
Say you mine an Iron-rich asteroid, and then send the packets of ore back home to earth via a cheap, long-trajectory orbit. How easy would it be to hijack huge chunks of ore from their trajectories and then fire them at the enemy of your choice on the planet with the aid of a rail gun.
I'm not a engineer, but I've seen enough 'build your own railgun' pages out there to know that it would be fairly easy and cheap for any given interplanetary free-lancer to build such a weapon in orbit.
There is also a high probability of space accidents. With all that ore just floating around, someone is bound to hit it sooner or later. Worse, suppose that the mining activities send large-enough chunks of poorly aimed metal-rich debris toward earth? Worse, suppose mining activities affect the orbit of certain Near-Earth Asteroids.
Asteroid and Planetary mining is a very good thing, because it will help save the Earth's environment, provide massive amounts of employment and wealth on Earth. Unfortuneately, there are very serious risks that should be addressed before mining begins.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
"Earth First! (We'll mine the other planets later.)"
Funny part is I went to the Colo School of Mines - which held the first summit to discuss the econmics of space mining last year.
Yeah,there are also huge oxygen reserves under Mars by which you can conveniently burn your fossil fuel. I also heard there are massive clue wells under frozen plains of charon. They are very costly to access and carry but it might be feasible to transport those resources to earth because of high demand.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room!