4 ms·
Endless resources lying around in space yet we keep digging here.
by yrgulation 4y ago
Endless resources lying around in space yet we keep digging here.
- HPsquared 4y agoResources yes, but are there any proved reserves? (i.e. economically mineable)
- _Algernon_ 4y agoAnd until it is economically feasible with space mining that will remain true.
- idiotsecant 4y agoObviously if we tried to rely on this only right now we'd all starve but i hope in 500 years people look back at the idea of removing a mountain or digging a pit into the earth and subsequently destroying the ecosystem of these places to recover the minerals within with the same kind of baffled outrage that we might have today for someone who casually pours used motor oil into a swimming pool.
- pfdietz 4y agoRare earth elements are enriched by about a factor of 100 in the Earth's crust compared to chondritic abundances (undifferentiated asteroidal material.) Like uranium, the best place to mine REEs in the solar system may be Earth.
- pencilguin 4y agoWondering why we don't just call them "lanthanides"...
- pfdietz 4y agoRare earth elements = lanthanides + yttrium, scandium.
- pencilguin 4y agoIt is probably better to make scandium and yttrium honorary lanthanides, in news reporting contexts, than to continue using the confusing "rare-earths" misnomer.