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Heavy industry in space is a ludicrous idea for the next few centuries. We will need to significantly rework industrial processes to avoid the heat buildup curr
by politician 5y ago
Heavy industry in space is a ludicrous idea for the next few centuries. We will need to significantly rework industrial processes to avoid the heat buildup currently offset by the planet. No one will be operating a foundry in space anytime soon.
Niche applications like low-temperature ZBLAN manufacturing might make more sense.
- abecedarius 5y agoI disagree about centuries because the rate of progress so far belonged to a regime of launch costs of thousands of dollars per kg or worse. (Though "centuries" is at least more realistic than "inconceivably far". People were conceiving it in the 1970s and earlier.)
- politician 5y agoMaybe we'll use mass drivers to cool platforms in a couple hundred years. Maybe we'll reuse the slugs to excavate other bodies.