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The Best Near-Term Future of Space Exploration?

Posted by Soulskill on from the resources-beyond-imagining dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Much fanfare has been made about manned missions to moons and planets, but little has been done about travel to the asteroids — until now. NASA is working on plans for a trip to the asteroids by 2025. This type of mission has great potential for positive economic return based on the fact that no effort has to be spent on getting in and out of a distant planet's gravity well. Yes, we should go to the planets, but we should master mining the asteroid belt for resources first because it is easiest. What do you think?"

2 of 444 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Nuke them by robot256 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Why don't we try negotiating with the asteroid? It might work better than in the middle east. (or at least get Hilary Clinton off the planet). ;) ;)

  2. Re:Why mine the asteroids? by kieran · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    So, escape speed, billion tons...impact energy is on the order of 40 gigatons of TNT.

    So, which desert area will we use for safety?

    Might I suggest Milton Keynes?