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If they started mining this thing, and extracted what would be $trillions worth of metal at today's valuation, the income generated would rapidly fall to a smal
by angiosperm 3y ago
If they started mining this thing, and extracted what would be $trillions worth of metal at today's valuation, the income generated would rapidly fall to a small fraction of that.
It might still be worth doing. If they were able to produce very large quantities of platinum-group metals, it might make chemical processes dependent on catalysis cheap enough to change the world.
For example, a process to produce ammonia economically, in a small installation at low temperature and pressure from just air and water, might enable a single farm to put up a wind turbine and generate all the fertilizer and tractor fuel they need locally. There are good catalysts known for ammonia synthesis that rely on gold...
- MerelyMortal 3y agoEarth prices would probably remain the same because it would cost a lot more money to deorbit the materials, and people are going to want materials in orbit to build with. There would probably be two markets: terrestrial and orbital.
- angiosperm 3y agoPlatinum-group metal value might exceed the cost of de-orbiting it. One method proposed to deliver that is to produce ingots embedded in foamed metal, and electrically accelerate them to an earth-crossing trajectory. It relies on atmospheric drag to de-orbit and avoids need for terminal delta-V maneuvering.
- inhumantsar 3y agoRailgunning platinum whiffle balls at the Earth is officially my favorite space mining proposal so far.
- angiosperm 3y agoThe real problem, as was so cogently noted in "Queen of Outer Space", is "how could they aim it"?
- BizarroLand 3y agoI'm a fan of the space frisbee method. Use solar energy to melt the metals in space and spin them out into disc shapes, and then launch them at earth. We can make them ideal sizes and shape to encounter a minimum of drag heating but still small enough to not be a danger should they go off course slightly.
- kbelder 3y agoCouple that with a battalion of trained dogs for capture & retrieval.
- angiosperm 3y agoI think the original idea was that the foamed metal would let them float on water, and you would collect them from the ocean. So, a fleet of trained sea lions, if you like. More seriously, tugboats.