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Planetary Resources To 'Claim' Asteroids With Beacons
kkleiner writes "Planetary Resources last year boldly claimed that they would build a futuristic business out of mining space asteroids. To that end, the firm recently completed the Arkyd-100 satellite prototype. The satellite will use its telescope to look for suitable near-Earth asteroids from low-Earth orbit. Later expeditions will rocket out to prospective real estate, do spectral analysis, and if the asteroid contains valuable resources, lay claim with a beacon."
Not legally enforceable, which in many ways is a shame. Until money can be made through space travel, it will never "take off"...
Mod informative, flamebait or funny
Not only not enforceable: I always thought that there were treaties against this, as in no private company from any country can claim anything outside the atmosphere without some sort of international agreement. See Outer Space Treaty.
Ezekiel 23:20
So I know whose asteroid crashed into my house.
Luckily, this time there aren't any natives to genocide.
got proof of that?
rewriting history since 2109
This Valentine's day, give your mistress the gift that's out of this world. Claim an asteroid for her...
Why bother mining asteroids when there is a bunch of pre-refined materials floating in LEO. Re-refine the materials in Proton boosters, non-functional satellites and such. Stop throwing used up stuff back into the atmosphere to burn up. Build a refinery at the Space Station.
Just because you choose space as the place to do something shitty doesn't mean you won't have to answer for it here.
Mighty big talk from someone sitting at the bottom of a gravity well.
Curiously enough, yes: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2282/would-a-gun-work-in-space
All they need to do is lick each one. Any four-year-old knows that.
Yes. Better than on earth, in fact. The gunpowder already contains the oxidizer and there isn't any atmosphere that the bullet has to push out of the way. Muzzle velocities will be higher.
People have been camping things in MMOs for years.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I'm pretty sure Grand Fenwick isn't a signatory either. IMO, a much more appropriate choice.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
On the one hand, mineral claims have a long history and seem to have worked decently.
On the other hand, how do we prevent an unscrupulous company from doing just enough work to *claim* these asteroids, with no intention of actually following through and mining them. Then, acting as a rent-seeker when another company actually does try to mine the resources?
Look, I don't care if you plant a flag or a beacon on some asteroid, if I can actually build a spaceship that can go and grab it and mine it before you do, your shit out of luck. I'll just kick your little beacon off, or move it to something else that has no value. What are you going to do about it?
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Do they have a flag?
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
The first shot will be even better than the one you'd get on Earth. The power already contains the oxidants the combustion needs, and there will be no air resistance.
The rest of the shot are trickier. If the gun is an automatic, and has not been modified, you may need to chamber the rounds manually, because the lack of air resistance may mess up the automatic action.
If the gun is a revolver, you will be able to fire all chambers as usual, but the gun will be only cooling by radiating heat AND through the contact with your gloves. That may become uncomfortable rather quickly.
And of course, you may have problems with recoil. Unless you have anchored yourself rather well, you will start moving in very complex way, especially if you do not fire the bullet along a line passing through your center of mass and the end of the barrel.
No good deed goes unpunished...
The USSR tested on aboard one of their military space stations.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Well, half the thread is about how well revolvers work in space and how to most efficiently shoot someone there.... I don't think that some people have advanced civilizationally in any significant manner, do you?
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
abundant compared to on the surface of the planet we call home. many of those iron/nickel asteroids have more of each than has been mined in the entirety of human existence.
Isn't that quite an understatement? Just look at 16 Psyche. I believe that the amount would be sufficient to cover the whole planet with a layer of steel.five meter thick. Can you spell "Trantor"? :-)
Ezekiel 23:20
The shooter or the target?