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>Mining on Earth leads to conflicts on Earth, so what's the difference? The difference is that conspiracy theorists and others will fear that an asteroid would

>Mining on Earth leads to conflicts on Earth, so what's the difference? The difference is that conspiracy theorists and others will fear that an asteroid would be used to destroy a major city. But we've got to learn how to deflect asteroids anyhow, in order to save the Earth. So some international body formed out of NASA should start crashing them into the Moon, or into parking orbit around the Moon. We can then offer mining rights to any company which is simply able to get up there. Presto. There'll be a lunar base within decades!

lucaspiller 11y ago
> We can then offer mining rights Who is "we" in this case?
- aluhut 11y ago
  "We the people" of course. Yeah there will be some nice absurd law fights before the wars. I wonder if generally law applies to earth only.
  - lmm 11y ago
    Law applies wherever people are willing to enforce it.
- sangnoir 11y ago
  The country with the biggest space-guns / asteroid-throwers
kjs3 10y ago
Interesting idea, but I'm not sure lunar orbits would be stable, and we're all sitting at the bottom of the next closest (and much bigger) gravity well. Also See: Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", which features space colonists seeking to break away from Earth dropping rocks on us to persuade us to let them go.