New Information on Asteroid Mining

[Mal12345]

http://dvice.com/archives/2012/04/planetary-resou.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zXXJtSZffVg
"Phase One, the exploration phase, should be launching within 24 months (!). Specifically, Planetary plans to send up its first Arkyd Series 100 Leo space telescope within two years. Beyond that, Planetary is more cautious about discussing timelines, but it does say that it'll spend two to three years observing asteroids from LEO, and then send self-propelled telescopes out for the next few years after that. Planetary hopes that within the decade, it will have identified a number asteroids (ten or twenty or thirty) which it will then send probes out to mine."

 

[Southern Kross]

Holy hell. That's insane.

I can't believe they're going to be starting this in 24 months - I thought this would be some 30-50 years off. I didn't even think that the robotic technology would be good enough at present, let alone all the rest.

I also can't believe that they've managed this on private investment, either. I don't doubt how plentiful the minerals are, but how on earth (pun intended) are they going to make this sufficiently profitable? It surely would cost hundreds if billions of dollars to finance, and this is before there is any return. And how do you keep the costs of multiple space launches down?

 

[Mal12345]

Holy hell. That's insane.

I can't believe they're going to be starting this in 24 months - I thought this would be some 30-50 years off. I didn't even think that the robotic technology would be good enough at present, let alone all the rest.

I also can't believe that they've managed this on private investment, either. I don't doubt how plentiful the minerals are, but how on earth (pun intended) are they going to make this sufficiently profitable? It surely would cost hundreds if billions of dollars to finance, and this is before there is any return. And how do you keep the costs of multiple space launches down?

It would cost inefficient NASA hundreds of billions in wasted money.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1004201,00.html
"For 20 years, the American space program has been wedded to a space-shuttle system that is too expensive, too risky, too big for most of the ways it is used, with budgets that suck up funds that could be invested in a modern system that would make space flight cheaper and safer. The space shuttle is impressive in technical terms, but in financial terms and safety terms no project has done more harm to space exploration. With hundreds of launches to date, the American and Russian manned space programs have suffered just three fatal losses in flight--and two were space-shuttle calamities. This simply must be the end of the program."

The profit motive will encourage private investors to do things cheaply yet just as effectively.

 

[RaptorWizard]

One of the great revelations of space exploration is the image of the Earth, finite and lonely, bearing the entire human species through the oceans of space and time.

 

[entropie]

It's a neat idea but it has many technological challenges to face. One example would be: if they want to mine platinum and bring it back to Earth later that could be a problem. Platinum has a density of 21,5E+3 kg/m³ that would mean to transfer 1 cubic metre of platinum to Earth, you'ld already have 1/4 of the weight of a space shuttle without boosters and such. Thats approximately a load of 35 feet³ of platinum, dunno if that worth the effort already. You'ld need some kind of orbiter to brake the free fall that would drastically increase the weigth. Plus you of course need to get the orbiter in space first.

Sounds definitly cool but sounds like a huge engineering challenge as well. I am a bit sceptical if its lucrative longterm. One would need to do a bit of financial calculation.

A cool idea I think is catching roids with a net like they show in the video. If you'ld bring the whole roid back to Earth then and mine it here, this sounds pretty neat. Only limitation would be to only use roids which, when getting out of control in Earth orbit, would burn in the atmosphere. Otherwise you could bring doom right into your frontyard

 

[INTP]

If you'ld bring the whole roid back to Earth then and mine it here, this sounds pretty neat.

dropping an object from space that weights hundreds of tons on the ground sounds like one of the best ideas people has had so far

 

[entropie]

dropping an object from space that weights hundreds of tons on the ground sounds like one of the best ideas people has had so far

Well they aint that stupid, dont you think ? A bit you have to trust mankind or you'll become filled with bitterness

 

[UniqueMixture]

Re platinum, isn't it exceedingly rare to see elements with a weight higher than iron on the periodic table in space?

 

[entropie]

Re platinum, isn't it exceedingly rare to see elements with a weight higher than iron on the periodic table in space?

Ya I was thinking about that too. They so convincingly said in the video that roids are full of platinum that I believed it. But actually I think the chance to find platinum on roids should be equally slim like on Earth. Even slimer since those rocks could come from a lot of supernovae or planet collisions which not necessarily needed to yield platinum at all.

Nevertheless I dont think the idea is too bad, at least it would get some kind of space program back on track. I doubt tho its longterm lucrativity. The kind of asteroid poker you have to play until you find a lucrative one has hard chances I think, plus its not like that we had a billion of them in our neighbourhood, do we ?

 

[INTP]

Well they aint that stupid, dont you think ?

im not sure, people in power do all kinds of stupid shit all the time, even tho they know its stupid, just to get more cash money.

 

[entropie]

im not sure, people in power do all kinds of stupid shit all the time, even tho they know its stupid, just to get more cash money.

Ya, I wouldnt fight for my arguement as well

 

[Cellmold]

So it begins!!!

One of the great revelations of space exploration is the image of the Earth, finite and lonely, bearing the entire human species through the oceans of space and time.

"Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do..."