4 ms·
Ah well then pardon my snark - of course we humans are very determined when it comes to exploiting our environment but a crude look at the figures might set you
by danparsonson 4y ago
Ah well then pardon my snark - of course we humans are very determined when it comes to exploiting our environment but a crude look at the figures might set your mind at rest:
Moon's mass - about 0.7x10^23 kgs
Global annual iron ore output - about 2.5x10^12 kgs (per [1])
One over the other - 2.8x10^10 years
So on the order of a billion years to remove one percent of it. And that's assuming we develop the same kind of demand for moon iron as we have here on Earth - so we have some time to think about it at least.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_iron_ore_production https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_iron_or...
- Apocryphon 4y agoEven a second-rate H.G. Wells adaptation could imagine humanity finding a way- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odrgDzciG6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odrgDzciG6s
- DesiLurker 4y agomeh.. automated mining to solar panel construction & using the metal+energy to make a mass driver in a fully closed loop system. Now you'll have a exponentially increasing mining and space habitat and/or dyson swarm construction platform. I'll bet we can shred the moon clean off in under a few 100k years.
- quickthrower2 4y agoHow long to do Earth?
- danparsonson 4y agoBy which time everyone here will be long dead, so I don't think there's any need to lose sleep over it...
- quickthrower2 4y agoHumans have a way of supply creating demand. And tech will evolve. Tell the chatbot you want a USS Enterprise kind of thing and use your free startup credits to fund it. Might be possible within next say 10k years? Much less than a hundred billion.