3 ms·

You really wouldnt' want to bring it back to the Earth's surface. You would keep in in orbit and make a satellite(s) out of it.

bryanlarsen 10y ago
Low Earth Orbit is still fairly close to earth, cost wise. (yay SpaceX). A gram of platinum in LEO is only about 20% more expensive than a gram of platinum on Earth. It's the stuff that's cheap but bulky like iron, water & rocket fuel ectrolyzed from water that you'll want to mine in space for use in space. Platinum and other rare metals will simply be waste products that are profitable to ship back to Earth. edit: my original comment used "titanium" instead of "platinum", which made it nonsensical, since titanium isn't a rare metal.
- p1mrx 10y ago
  It looks like titanium costs $4/kg [1], and a SpaceX LEO launch is $2719/kg [2]. I'm not sure how much Ti is in "ferro titanium", but even if it's only 10%, the numbers aren't even close. Am I doing this wrong? [1] http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/ferro-titanium/ http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/ferro-titani... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9#Launch_prices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9#Launch_prices
  - bryanlarsen 10y ago
    Nope, it's all me. Platinum is $32/g. Titanium is $4/kg. Mixing the two up results in nonsense.
- Gracana 10y ago
  > A gram of titanium in LEO is only about 20% more expensive than a gram of titanium on Earth. Can you elaborate on that? I can't parse that statement in a way that would make it seem correct, so... What exactly do you mean?
  - taneq 10y ago
    Translation: It cost 20% as much to lift titanium to orbit as it costs to refine in the first place. Which seems very wrong because it costs between $5 and $50 per kilo according to a quick search, and I'm pretty sure it costs a LOT more than that to lift a kilo into orbit.
    - Gracana 10y ago
      Right. I wondered if they meant something else, because that doesn't make sense.
- pitaj 10y ago
  Most rare metals have uses beyond just "pretty."

bryanlarsen 10y ago

Low Earth Orbit is still fairly close to earth, cost wise. (yay SpaceX). A gram of platinum in LEO is only about 20% more expensive than a gram of platinum on Earth. It's the stuff that's cheap but bulky like iron, water & rocket fuel ectrolyzed from water that you'll want to mine in space for use in space. Platinum and other rare metals will simply be waste products that are profitable to ship back to Earth. edit: my original comment used "titanium" instead of "platinum", which made it nonsensical, since titanium isn't a rare metal.

p1mrx 10y ago
It looks like titanium costs $4/kg [1], and a SpaceX LEO launch is $2719/kg [2]. I'm not sure how much Ti is in "ferro titanium", but even if it's only 10%, the numbers aren't even close. Am I doing this wrong? [1] http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/ferro-titanium/ http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/ferro-titani... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9#Launch_prices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9#Launch_prices
- bryanlarsen 10y ago
  Nope, it's all me. Platinum is $32/g. Titanium is $4/kg. Mixing the two up results in nonsense.
Gracana 10y ago
> A gram of titanium in LEO is only about 20% more expensive than a gram of titanium on Earth. Can you elaborate on that? I can't parse that statement in a way that would make it seem correct, so... What exactly do you mean?
- taneq 10y ago
  Translation: It cost 20% as much to lift titanium to orbit as it costs to refine in the first place. Which seems very wrong because it costs between $5 and $50 per kilo according to a quick search, and I'm pretty sure it costs a LOT more than that to lift a kilo into orbit.
  - Gracana 10y ago
    Right. I wondered if they meant something else, because that doesn't make sense.
pitaj 10y ago
Most rare metals have uses beyond just "pretty."