On April 20 2012 03:41 The_LiNk wrote: Inject trillions of dollars into the world economy? This one corporation will be account for at least 1/60th of the world's GDP in the future? What an outlandish statement and claim.
It is based on basic facts about the current market value of a single near Earth asteroid. A lot of these resources would be used in space instead of bringing them all back to Earth. This would expand our Earth based economy into space as more people are made able to live and work there. Do some research before you dismiss things based on seeing big numbers. They didn't say trillions in the first years, they said it has the potential to inject trillions, this is its eventual potential and it is completely real.
Yeah, this is what I mean, as long as they put the resources to good use to expand into space further, it will hugely boost the world economy.
Totally agree. However this isn't economically feasible if they plan on simply returning materials. They can make vastly more money selling the resources to be make into in-space assets, fuels, etc. Simply add the 2000+ USD cost per pound to launch anything to every pound of stuff you mine and you quickly realize why it is worth more up in space.
I imagine capsules of certain things will just be launched back into earths orbit and then retrieved.
On April 21 2012 06:36 Morfildur wrote: What i'm always wondering... what do you use to produce energy in space?
Uranium? Hard to find (i think). Oil? No dinosaurs or trees in space (afaik). Coal? Not really energy efficient. Gas (Hydrogen or such)? Get a pump to jupiter?
In addition, an abundant supply of cometary water ice could provide copious quantities of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, the two primary ingredients in rocket fuel. It seems likely that in the next century when we begin to colonize the inner solar system, the metals and minerals found on asteroids will provide the raw materials for space structures and comets will become the watering holes and gas stations for interplanetary spacecraft.
On April 20 2012 03:41 The_LiNk wrote: Inject trillions of dollars into the world economy? This one corporation will be account for at least 1/60th of the world's GDP in the future? What an outlandish statement and claim.
It is based on basic facts about the current market value of a single near Earth asteroid. A lot of these resources would be used in space instead of bringing them all back to Earth. This would expand our Earth based economy into space as more people are made able to live and work there. Do some research before you dismiss things based on seeing big numbers. They didn't say trillions in the first years, they said it has the potential to inject trillions, this is its eventual potential and it is completely real.
Yeah, this is what I mean, as long as they put the resources to good use to expand into space further, it will hugely boost the world economy.
Totally agree. However this isn't economically feasible if they plan on simply returning materials. They can make vastly more money selling the resources to be make into in-space assets, fuels, etc. Simply add the 2000+ USD cost per pound to launch anything to every pound of stuff you mine and you quickly realize why it is worth more up in space.
I imagine capsules of certain things will just be launched back into earths orbit and then retrieved.
That's certainly a possibility, but I imagine 99% of it won't because it is very costly and the minerals are better used in space.
I would like to share this amazing video relating to this thread. As Carl Sagan points out, we can take care of the inhabitants on this planet and explore space at the same time, just need the right system.
spend earth resources to get space resources to save earth resources. I imagine you'll spend more than you get out, but I don't care enough to research it especially if the OP doesn't post any actual scientific article. I'll just call it maek werk jobz star trek edition. I don't care about future generations since I'll be dead by the time this pays off, altruism is dum. I'd prefer they just give me the money instead for mah family and friends ^>^.
Saw this in the news today, it was the one thing out of a shit-heap of dross news that made the newspaper worth opening.
Apparently they have shortlisted a few (3600 or something) asteroids that are good candidates for testing due to their orbits being close to the earth. Pretty cool stuff.
On April 23 2012 12:14 Candadar wrote: The sooner we start mining dat Helium-3 the sooner we can move onto Nuclear Fusion :D
Tritium mining isn't the only thing that's holding back fusion technology.
Helium 3 is not tritium (and tritium mining is basically impossible with 12 years of half-life, there won't be much tritium to mine anywhere). Also, He-3 is not the easiest way to fussion for the time being.
Human exapansion into space is great and all but atm we severly lack the technology to do so.
Space exploration is far from safe, the shuttle had 2 major accidents in like 50 flights. Personally i think we lack the technology to efficiently explore space atm, and we should wait another 100-200 years so that when we explore, we can also do something usefull to it.
Space exploration now is like the vikings discovering america, they could go there but they could not take back annything usefull, Only around the year 1500 and later, when merchandise ships got big enough it became usefull to discover other continents. For now space exploration is a niche, a curiousity. To heavily invest now is premature i think because we lack the technology to efficiently make use of whatever we will discover. I am all for investing in technology to be able to do so in the future, so i dont think this is a 100% bad idea since it will also increase the level of technology at least a little. We still need a major breakthrough in propulsion before we are able to do annything usefull though.
"Also, He-3 is not the easiest way to fussion for the time being"
For the time beeing, controlled and sustainable fusion is not possible at all.
On April 23 2012 12:05 askTeivospy wrote: spend earth resources to get space resources to save earth resources. I imagine you'll spend more than you get out, but I don't care enough to research it especially if the OP doesn't post any actual scientific article. I'll just call it maek werk jobz star trek edition. I don't care about future generations since I'll be dead by the time this pays off, altruism is dum. I'd prefer they just give me the money instead for mah family and friends ^>^.
I have posted scientific articles, you just haven't bothered to read the OP properly. Your entire attitude annoys me. If you don't have anything constructive to add to this thread then leave.
On another note to everyone else, after the livestream is over I will update the OP with key information. If you feel as if I have missed something out, PM me and I will add it in.
Surveying asteroids is a fine thing to do currently. But mining them is going to be a huge thing for the technology we now have.
We will be running out of stuff like copper and platinum. And some metals like iridium are very rare. Gold always has a high cost as well. But there is only one price for gold, copper and platinum. Costs of these resources need to go up and costs of mining them have to go down until mining them from space is just as cheap as mining them anywhere else.
There will be a curiosity market for these metals. I already see Rolex selling some watch at 20x the normal cost that is made entirely from metals harvested off an asteroid. But for a long time, that will be it.
As for NASA, all spin-off technologies can be developed cheaper without launching people into space. And what NASA is doing now is building the same old rockets to launch people into space with very little scientific data as a return. They pulled out of the latest Mars drone which ESA is now working alone on. Where is the Webb space telescope? Also, the Terrestrial Planet Finder got canceled. Kepler is doing so wel. We need more of that stuff.
Deorbit ISS asap if you ask me or sell it to Cameron. Let's see if anyone in the private sector wants to buy it. If not it's not worth anything.
Also let NASA and ESA work together on some new method to launch stuff real cheap into space. So not using chemical rockets. We have that technology down and the private sector is working on that.
EPT
