Mining in space the next frontier

Thanks for the feedback.

I read another article today, stating they are also planning to mind gold on some astroids and meteorides.

Very interesting indeed.

vvv

Originally posted by NuclearPaul

Originally posted by Maslo
Oh, please.

How can you ruin a dead rock in space? Human presence can only enrich the space.

How do you know that this idea will be limited to "dead rocks"?

Cameron's movie Avatar shows what ideas are in his head...

mars is one of the closest planets we could possibly set up a mining colony, and its not exactly brimmed with life like in the movie avatar.

come to think about it, a trip to mars would almost be a one way trip itd take too long.

think id be more worried about the changes in mass, but than that is a lot of material to mine to change any orbits.

Official website here:

Planetary Resources

An interesting read.

Originally posted by NuclearPaul

Originally posted by Maslo
Oh, please.

How can you ruin a dead rock in space? Human presence can only enrich the space.

How do you know that this idea will be limited to "dead rocks"?

Cameron's movie Avatar shows what ideas are in his head...

Avatar is a movie NOT a documentary!!!

Originally posted by wmd_2008

Originally posted by NuclearPaul

Originally posted by Maslo
Oh, please.

How can you ruin a dead rock in space? Human presence can only enrich the space.

How do you know that this idea will be limited to "dead rocks"?

Cameron's movie Avatar shows what ideas are in his head...

Avatar is a movie NOT a documentary!!!

Its an unrealistic one at that. We'd nuke the Naavi and mine the rubble.

Dont bet against the folks with the orbital nukes.

How about a spacecraft being able to "hitch a ride" on an asteroid. Or several asteroids, in order to save fuel. Getting to the target asteroid/planet, collect the mineral/samples, then hitch a ride back to earth the same way? Possible? Some kind of a spider space ship lol. With the right technology, it could easily work.

Check out the amount of asteroids discovered in in this awesome video:

Video Created by Scott Manley, this is a view of the solar system showing the locations of all the asteroids starting in 1980, as asteroids are discovered they are added to the map and highlighted white so you can pick out the new ones.

So there is alot of stuff out there.

About the "germs" that could come from asteroids; could it be ancient bacteria from the dinosaur asteroid impact 65 mill. years ago, that somehow have survived and evolved into incredible tough bacteria/viruses? So when such a fragment re-enters earth, and just a tiny part survives, the lifeform would be superior in any way?
Causing disease and mutations?
If the dinosaur asteroid impact is real, then it's pretty likely that earth-life have "contaminated" other heavenly objects, and all the "alien" life we will find, would appear earth-bound

I for one am very interested and eager to hear about what this venture has planned for any potential explorations into space. I have always believed that the future of humankind lies in the vastness of the cosmos, and we will never truly move forward as a species - both technologically and socially - until we can leave the confines of our home planet.

As for the numerous replies which mention the impracticality of so-called 'space mining', they would be correct. At this point in time we do not have the technological means to extract ores and minerals from other planetary bodies, but on the same token we once did not have the technology to travel across oceans to other continents.

The first exploration missions to 'The New World' required vast amounts of capital to finance with initially little promise of return or gain. It was argued that the exploration of The New World was pointless as they still had many resources in The Old World; nothing was running out. No one knew if any resources of value could be found in the newly-discovered continents, but after the first few ships that returned brought back samples of precious metals and gems (mostly stolen from the natives), people with money were eager to invest in further ocean crossings. With further ocean crossings, the costs of such voyages fell as greater numbers of ships more technologically advanced than the ones before made the once perilous voyages almost commonplace. And the vast amounts of precious resources that were exported back to The Old World greatly benefited their economies, increasing the standard of living for many of the people living in those countries.

To me, history has shown that time and time again the discovery of - and the ability to import - resources which are dependent to the stability and growth of a society are of such a benefit as to usher in a profound change for the better. Unlimited gold for use in electronics, lithium for electric vehicle batteries that are as cheap and plentiful as Duracells, helium-3 for fusion-produced energy of vast quantity, and perhaps even enough metals to finally build our first star ship Enterprise in orbit! Okay, maybe that last one was really far-fetched, but the possibilities could very well be endless if space mining could be pulled off. I'm quite excited about this news!

There will always be naysayers who will roll their eyes at the apparent 'impossibility' of this venture, and those who will balk at the initial costs of the first baby steps in the creation of this spacebound venture, but I regard these people as the very same who stood on the shore banks and docks of England and Spain 500 years ago, pointing and laughing at the explorers who were going to sail off of the edge of the world, or groaning at how much of the ducats and doubloons spent on those ships would have been put to better use raising an army to march on France.

This is our future in the making, and I for one fully support it, and damn be the cost. We humans can do anything, but only if we put our minds - and our pocketbooks - to it.