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Billionaires and Polymaths Expected To Unveil a Plan To Mine Asteroids
dumuzi writes "A team including Larry Page, Ram Shriram and Eric Schmidt of Google, director James Cameron, Charles Simonyi (Microsoft executive and astronaut), Ross Perot Jr. (son of Ross Perot), Chris Lewicki (NASA Mars mission manager), and Peter Diamandis (X-Prize) have formed a new company called Planetary Resources, and are expected to announce plans on April 24th to mine asteroids. A study by NASA released April 2nd claims a robotic mission could capture a 500 ton asteroid and bring it to orbit the moon for $2.6 billion. The additional cost to mine the asteroid and return the ores to Earth would make profit unlikely even if the asteriod was 20% gold."
Do they understand what this would do to the price of gold (not to mention platinum and palladium)? Most of the gold bugs make themselves feel good about their investment with the mantra 'you can't print gold.' It's trading in the stratosphere as it is, and the Wolfram Alpha link in TFS uses the current commodity price of gold.
the point of the plan is that it is possible.
not that it is profitable right now, but that it is a possible backup plan to get resources(ore) should we need them in the future.
why does that matter? to shut the fuck up people complaining that we will run out of mineral X in 20 years and all civilization will be doomed because of that.
overly right wing? I think my opinion on this is left wing, actually.
another thing is that we wouldn't necessarily want the resources to be dumped back to earth just to shoot them up to space again, but use them in space.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
If this does nothing else but push the science of rocketry and space travel further then I'm all for it. If they succeed though, I can't wait to see what comes next. Haters be damned, I love that people still want to explore and see what's out there. You can't move the species forward by taking no risk at all.
"Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes."-Tycho
What are they going to find on a rock in space that is not already available on THIS rock in space?
I dunno, maybe........resources that are not on this rock? i.e. in its gravity well?
Why does the bulk of humanity always have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future?
Well, you know what they say in real estate: Location, location, LOCATION.
I'm thinking they don't want to bring 'Mineral X' down to Earth unless it's in ton lots. What they want is, the materials right where they are, in space, where they will provide materials to work with in space. Yes, it could take $2.6 billion to bring a random 500 ton asteroid to lunar orbit. It would cost over 10 billion to launch that 500 tons into orbit at the current guestimated going rate of $10,000 per pound. What can you do with 500 tons of materials in orbit? Lots of things. 500 tons of very high grade iron ore, the purity of which we haven't seen on Earth in almost a millenium, would make the basis for the frame of a decent sized space station. For comparison, the ISS at full buildout is about 37 billion plus overruns and weighs in approximately 450 tons plus about 13 billion so far in supplies etc to date. Grabbing a carbonaceous asteroid could offset some of that 13 billion on the 'next-gen' space stations, when we learn to 'convert' that carbon into foodstuffs in space.
Sure, we'd need to put a smelter assembly in orbit to refine the metals & scavange the carbon/etc from any asteroid, but add a machine shop as well, adn we can duplicate the factory complex and build out from there, at ZERO boost from Earth costs. Again, why would we want to send asteroidal material to Earth when we need it so badly in space?
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
Raw materials that aren't at the bottom of a gravity well.
Actually that is completely incorrect. Many asteroids in the solar system have been shown to contain as much iron ore as has been mined in the history of human industrialization as well as many other exotic and precious metals that are very rare on earth. There are many reasons to consider mining asteroids. It is actually a very important step in the progress of our society. When we stop stripping the earth of resources and move both extraction and manufacturing off our own planet we have a huge opportunity to sustain the quality of our environment, develop lower cost means of transporting materials on and off this planet because there is a financial incentive, and access exotic materials that are increasingly part of electronics.
Remember, most the metal in this planet is below the crust. The metals we do have in the crust is from the lower levels of the earth squirting little bits out every now and then. An asteroid does not have that problem.
I cordially invite you to do the math on transporting raw materials in space versus boosting said raw materials from Earth. Two of the people most interested in investing in this venture each have probably more smarts than the two of us together, and they think it's a good idea, or they would have blown it off,
The 'We Only Need Earth' religion DEMANDS we do everything from Earth, that there are no exploitable resources offworld. They would have had each and every settler from Europe to San Francisco to pack every single gram they needed in supplies and tools plus the entire vehicle used to get across the ocean, all the way from Europe to San Francisco. At those kind of costs, nobody would have ever left, which suits the 'We Only Need Earth' crowd just fine, thank you.
I've been told a famous man once said 'The meek shall inherit the Earth'. That man was spot on. The rest of us are going to figure out a way to go to space and make it pay.
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
We fear change. It's a survival characteristic.
It's also a survival instinct to move on to new territory when your tribe has grown too large and you cannot distinguish yourself from the other males as a suitable mating partner.
You want to mine the moon? Fine. Gather up some money and go mine the moon. These guys, they want to go get an asteroid. It's their money. It's not like they're asking you to pay for it.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
This is an impoverished view which will lead to nothing but stagnation, decline, and ultimately extinction.
I think a lot of people are used to space being a government endeavour. When it's NASA/ESA/JAXA/etc it's perfectly natural for the public to have an opinion, since it's their money being spent. It'll be interesting to see what happens as more private ventures move into space, and don't have to answer to a majority.
Not that it will stop the comments, of course. We certainly hear enough opinions about what Apple and Google should do.