4 ms·

I'm more interested in private asteroid mining.

CapitalistCartr 16y ago
Asteroid mining and electricity generation have the near-term potential to turn space into a lucrative economic endeavor, instead of an exotic money pit. They are the only two things I know of that could profoundly change the World's exploration of space.
- hugh3 16y ago
  What are you expecting to find on an asteroid which is valuable enough to make the trip economically viable?
  - presidentender 16y ago
    It's not 'what,' it's 'how much.' Millions of years worth of metals, mostly.
    - hugh3 16y ago
      Earth's crust already has a helluva lot in the way of most metals. Until I can dig it out of an asteroid more cheaply than I can dig it out of a hole in the ground, it's not going to help to kickstart the space industry. As far as rare and valuable materials go, I'm not aware of any which are more common in asteroids than they are on Earth. Most space rocks are just the same few elements over and over again; iron, nickel, silicon, magnesium.
      - presidentender 16y ago
        I do not disagree with you on any point.
      - njharman 16y ago
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/401227.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/401227.stm "The physical composition of asteroids is varied and in most cases poorly understood" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid#Composition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid#Composition
        olliesaunders 16y ago
        This bit is interesting: "In the 2,900 cubic kms of Eros, there is more aluminium, gold, silver, zinc and other base and precious metals than have ever been excavated in history or indeed, could ever be excavated from the upper layers of the Earth's crust. That is just in one asteroid and not a very large one at that. There are thousands of asteroids out there."
      - Vivtek 16y ago
        Iridium, if nothing else. We've mined all the terrestrial iridium we can reach (there's all that magma, but it's going to be a helluva lot easier to get an asteroid than to get to the magma). Oh, also: the disadvantage of mining the Earth's crust is all those people and other things living on it. The environment is not an issue with an asteroid - you'll be using up the whole thing anyway. Longer-term, of course, you can set up a big mirror and smelt the whole asteroid in situ for much, much lower prices than a terrestrial smelting furnace - with the added advantage that you'll be able to breathe in Gary, Indiana. (If you still think getting your metal out of the crust of the planet you're living on is a good idea, I invite you to visit Gary. It's way better than it used to be, since China and Korea have volunteered to poison themselves in its place, but it's still bad enough.)
    - michaeltwofish 16y ago
      As soon as you've got millions of years worth of metals, you saturate supply, the price falls and you're back to a mission that isn't economically viable.
      - InclinedPlane 16y ago
        Yeah, you aren't going to be selling asteroid mined metals to Earth any time in the foreseeable future, the math just doesn't add up. However, selling metals and other materials to other off-Earth colonies might be economically viable. But that just raises another question.
      - nitrogen 16y ago
        I think the global diamond market serves as a counterexample to your scenario. The producers would simply limit the supply to whatever level is sustainable. If multiple competitors increased supply or decreased prices too quickly, there may be a temporary freeze on production, but once the supply dwindles production will resume.
- rdl 16y ago
  Low earth orbit satellite constellations, especially using cheap picosats, also have a good chance of being lucrative. To date, they've been fiascoes (iridium, globalstar), but given a cheap RAMAC launcher to put $250k delivered cost satellites up, it should be feasible to do something like global EDGE coverage. The biggest issue is RF engineering (to get small antennas and tx power on both sides, maximum frequency reuse) and political (getting spectrum; steal it back from the 2.3ghz "we're a satellite network but operating entirely terrestrially" network).

Asteroid mining and electricity generation have the near-term potential to turn space into a lucrative economic endeavor, instead of an exotic money pit. They are the only two things I know of that could profoundly change the World's exploration of space.

hugh3 16y ago
What are you expecting to find on an asteroid which is valuable enough to make the trip economically viable?
- presidentender 16y ago
  It's not 'what,' it's 'how much.' Millions of years worth of metals, mostly.
  - hugh3 16y ago
    Earth's crust already has a helluva lot in the way of most metals. Until I can dig it out of an asteroid more cheaply than I can dig it out of a hole in the ground, it's not going to help to kickstart the space industry. As far as rare and valuable materials go, I'm not aware of any which are more common in asteroids than they are on Earth. Most space rocks are just the same few elements over and over again; iron, nickel, silicon, magnesium.
    - presidentender 16y ago
      I do not disagree with you on any point.
    - njharman 16y ago
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/401227.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/401227.stm "The physical composition of asteroids is varied and in most cases poorly understood" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid#Composition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid#Composition
      - olliesaunders 16y ago
        This bit is interesting: "In the 2,900 cubic kms of Eros, there is more aluminium, gold, silver, zinc and other base and precious metals than have ever been excavated in history or indeed, could ever be excavated from the upper layers of the Earth's crust. That is just in one asteroid and not a very large one at that. There are thousands of asteroids out there."
    - Vivtek 16y ago
      Iridium, if nothing else. We've mined all the terrestrial iridium we can reach (there's all that magma, but it's going to be a helluva lot easier to get an asteroid than to get to the magma). Oh, also: the disadvantage of mining the Earth's crust is all those people and other things living on it. The environment is not an issue with an asteroid - you'll be using up the whole thing anyway. Longer-term, of course, you can set up a big mirror and smelt the whole asteroid in situ for much, much lower prices than a terrestrial smelting furnace - with the added advantage that you'll be able to breathe in Gary, Indiana. (If you still think getting your metal out of the crust of the planet you're living on is a good idea, I invite you to visit Gary. It's way better than it used to be, since China and Korea have volunteered to poison themselves in its place, but it's still bad enough.)
  - michaeltwofish 16y ago
    As soon as you've got millions of years worth of metals, you saturate supply, the price falls and you're back to a mission that isn't economically viable.
    - InclinedPlane 16y ago
      Yeah, you aren't going to be selling asteroid mined metals to Earth any time in the foreseeable future, the math just doesn't add up. However, selling metals and other materials to other off-Earth colonies might be economically viable. But that just raises another question.
    - nitrogen 16y ago
      I think the global diamond market serves as a counterexample to your scenario. The producers would simply limit the supply to whatever level is sustainable. If multiple competitors increased supply or decreased prices too quickly, there may be a temporary freeze on production, but once the supply dwindles production will resume.
rdl 16y ago
Low earth orbit satellite constellations, especially using cheap picosats, also have a good chance of being lucrative. To date, they've been fiascoes (iridium, globalstar), but given a cheap RAMAC launcher to put $250k delivered cost satellites up, it should be feasible to do something like global EDGE coverage. The biggest issue is RF engineering (to get small antennas and tx power on both sides, maximum frequency reuse) and political (getting spectrum; steal it back from the 2.3ghz "we're a satellite network but operating entirely terrestrially" network).