2 ms·
Is there really that much exotic toxic stuff necessary in a rocket? Starship is made of steel and the fuel is already abundant. (Liquid oxygen and methane) Sure
by blamazon 5y ago
Is there really that much exotic toxic stuff necessary in a rocket? Starship is made of steel and the fuel is already abundant. (Liquid oxygen and methane) Sure the engines are made of fancy alloys and such but those are reusable. I guess I don't know what the thermal tiles are made of or where that comes from.
There's also kinetic launching - address the bootstrap problem by concentrating an amount of fancy metals and such in one giant motor that can be reused many times.
- kdbeall_ 5y agoAlso, gold content of asteroids is incredibly low. You'd be lucky to find a metallic asteroid with even 1 ppm of gold. Mines here on Earth often have grades above 4 ppm. The highest grade mines have above 20 ppm of gold. Second, let's say you find a M-type asteroid, how in the hell are you going to melt the nickel-iron and reprocess it for the valuable stuff like gold and platinum? Overall, asteroid mining is pretty idiotic. It will not be economical within our lifetimes and certainly will not play a role in producing the resources necessary for combating climate change.