Planetary Resources - Page 2
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kollin
United Kingdom8380 Posts
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corose
United States31 Posts
Additionally, when you're spending trillions and trillions of dollars to do just that, some 3rd world country is going to say, "hey, we have all the natural resources you could ever want, and we'll sell them to you for a tiny fraction of that!" So unless James Cameron is planning to reveal that AVATAR was a documentary and he has efficient interstellar travel, it seems very implausable. Perhaps they will be doing something else? Or just trying to develop the technology? Or the investors are all so rich and nerdy they just want to try something cool? Because while we are still facing crisis(plural?) on our own planet on which type of energy source is best, most economic, and environmentally friendly, it seems near impossible to start going Sci-fi. That being said, I would love for this to happen. In fact, if this is the case I would definitely want to pursue a career with them. I want nothing more than humanity to be able to reach further into space, but i'm doubtful, ya know? Oh to be born a couple thousand years later. | ||
kollin
United Kingdom8380 Posts
On April 20 2012 04:07 corose wrote: While cool, my dad pointed out that right now we have major issues as to whether we should use gas or electricity or geothermal energy for things like heating our homes, etc. The concerns over those choices are huge today, yet the economic differences between them are miniscule relative to what it would take to go mine asteroids on the other side of Mars. Additionally, when you're spending trillions and trillions of dollars to do just that, some 3rd world country is going to say, "hey, we have all the natural resources you could ever want, and we'll sell them to you for a tiny fraction of that!" So unless James Cameron is planning to reveal that AVATAR was a documentary and he has efficient interstellar travel, it seems very implausable. Perhaps they will be doing something else? Or just trying to develop the technology? Or the investors are all so rich and nerdy they just want to try something cool? Because while we are still facing crisis(plural?) on our own planet on which type of energy source is best, most economic, and environmentally friendly, it seems near impossible to start going Sci-fi. That being said, I would love for this to happen. In fact, if this is the case I would definitely want to pursue a career with them. I want nothing more than humanity to be able to reach further into space, but i'm doubtful, ya know? Oh to be born a couple thousand years later. Whoever said anything about going to other star systems? This one has thousands of asteroids that could all be accessed easily. And investing in space will solve our energy problems, because even from the moon, enormous amount of power can be harnessed using solar panels at the poles. We have to go into space. It is necessary to our survival as the human race. Otherwise we'll suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs. | ||
Miss_Cleo
United States406 Posts
On April 20 2012 04:07 corose wrote: While cool, my dad pointed out that right now we have major issues as to whether we should use gas or electricity or geothermal energy for things like heating our homes, etc. The concerns over those choices are huge today, yet the economic differences between them are miniscule relative to what it would take to go mine asteroids on the other side of Mars. Additionally, when you're spending trillions and trillions of dollars to do just that, some 3rd world country is going to say, "hey, we have all the natural resources you could ever want, and we'll sell them to you for a tiny fraction of that!" So unless James Cameron is planning to reveal that AVATAR was a documentary and he has efficient interstellar travel, it seems very implausable. Perhaps they will be doing something else? Or just trying to develop the technology? Or the investors are all so rich and nerdy they just want to try something cool? Because while we are still facing crisis(plural?) on our own planet on which type of energy source is best, most economic, and environmentally friendly, it seems near impossible to start going Sci-fi. That being said, I would love for this to happen. In fact, if this is the case I would definitely want to pursue a career with them. I want nothing more than humanity to be able to reach further into space, but i'm doubtful, ya know? Oh to be born a couple thousand years later. Asteroids are very rich in precious heavy metals; resources does not automatically equate to energy, although I'm assuming that's what they've set their future goals on. Once we have enough rare metals and we start heavy development into the materials science, then maybe interstellar travel will be more viable. | ||
Demonhunter04
1530 Posts
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sirachman
United States270 Posts
On April 20 2012 04:07 corose wrote: While cool, my dad pointed out that right now we have major issues as to whether we should use gas or electricity or geothermal energy for things like heating our homes, etc. The concerns over those choices are huge today, yet the economic differences between them are miniscule relative to what it would take to go mine asteroids on the other side of Mars. Additionally, when you're spending trillions and trillions of dollars to do just that, some 3rd world country is going to say, "hey, we have all the natural resources you could ever want, and we'll sell them to you for a tiny fraction of that!" So unless James Cameron is planning to reveal that AVATAR was a documentary and he has efficient interstellar travel, it seems very implausable. Perhaps they will be doing something else? Or just trying to develop the technology? Or the investors are all so rich and nerdy they just want to try something cool? Because while we are still facing crisis(plural?) on our own planet on which type of energy source is best, most economic, and environmentally friendly, it seems near impossible to start going Sci-fi. That being said, I would love for this to happen. In fact, if this is the case I would definitely want to pursue a career with them. I want nothing more than humanity to be able to reach further into space, but i'm doubtful, ya know? Oh to be born a couple thousand years later. *Near-Earth Asteroids are easier to get to than the moon. *3rd World countries don't have trillions in resources, nor are those resources in space. *Resources mined in space have a unique value because they are in-fact allready in space and thus don't have to be launched there from Earth. *There is no more environmentally friendly solution to the world's power needs than space-based solar power made from in-space resources. So if that is your goal, this is the best solution. *This isn't scifi, the money has simply never been available from private hands in the past in order to fund it. When the money was there we went to the moon when we were still using slide rules. With all that said, I hope everything works out as well and am glad you hope so also. Just trying to clear up what seems to be general confusion a lot of people have, not intending to be confrontational. | ||
sirkyan
211 Posts
On April 20 2012 03:42 kollin wrote: Yeah, I think trillions of dollars might be a bit of an overstatement by them, but if they have the right technology and aren't complete idiots, then it will change a lot. I think it's safe to say none of these guys are idiots. In fact they seem to be anything but just that. I hope this is true. It would be so awesome. | ||
kollin
United Kingdom8380 Posts
On April 20 2012 04:19 sirkyan wrote: I think it's safe to say none of these guys are idiots. In fact they seem to be anything but just that. I hope this is true. It would be so awesome. Oh I never said they were idiots, I mean if they are intelligent in their choices with what they do with the money and materials. | ||
kollin
United Kingdom8380 Posts
http://www.space.com/15336-planetary-resources-space-exploration-announcement.html | ||
Fealthas
607 Posts
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Ostby
Norway38 Posts
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kollin
United Kingdom8380 Posts
On April 20 2012 04:42 Ostby wrote: I have a theory. They could bring an asteroid to earth orbit, make a mining/research/fueling station on it. Interesting idea, though it would be incredibly costly. They would either have to push it which would use an enormous amount of energy, or get a sufficiently big space ship that it gets pulled into the space ships orbit, which is more effort than its worth. | ||
Bartuc
Netherlands629 Posts
+ Show Spoiler + P.S.: I hope they don't mine Phoebe | ||
Fake)Plants
United States373 Posts
On April 20 2012 04:01 Perfi wrote: All I can say is this: Holy. Fucking. Sagan. This is so incredibly awesome, I can't wait to see how it turns out! Thank you for the new saying. Holy fucking Sagan indeed. | ||
kollin
United Kingdom8380 Posts
On April 20 2012 04:47 Bartuc wrote: Sounds very interesting, can't wait to hear the announcement. If not asteroid mining, it might be something like Helium 3 mining from the moon for development of nuclear fusion. + Show Spoiler + P.S.: I hope they don't mine Phoebe Yeah, Helium 3 is also another viable material that could be mined. I'm just so so so excited to see how this will turn out. | ||
Shanedon
United States147 Posts
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liberal
1116 Posts
On April 20 2012 03:56 Equity213 wrote: That guys been chuckling for a LONG time now. Its been kinda insane and creepy for the last 100 years or so, we should put him in a home. lol that's funny ![]() | ||
kollin
United Kingdom8380 Posts
On April 20 2012 04:50 Shanedon wrote: I just hope I can catch the streamed conference, I want to hear their timeline. Makes me wonder if they've already invested into fields of technology in an effort to facilitate this launch. I imagine at first they will get companies such as SpaceX to actually launch into space, but the rest of it seems technically feasible. I'm assuming they are going to use robots, so they probably have a cargo robot, a prospecting robot in larger fields and some robots that actually do the mining. | ||
jmack
Canada285 Posts
Hear me out, we have how many people dying from starvation by the minute? How many suicides per minute? How many people who's entire life potential is completely wasted because our social structures place favor on a select few? How about we feed and regulate our own population, by actually harnessing and distributing our knowledge and technology in EFFICIENT ways before we chase pipe dreams.... Just feels backwards... ( I'm all for space exploration, I just don't think it's our ticket out of the shit world we've created ) | ||
Abort Retry Fail
2636 Posts
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