> Assuming that it costs as much to haul gold from orbit to Earth It doesn't. Coming down is way cheaper than going up. But that may not even be particularly

> Assuming that it costs as much to haul gold from orbit to Earth It doesn't. Coming down is way cheaper than going up. But that may not even be particularly relevant, as there's a good chance that a lot of the material may be sold in space. After all, we want to launch more stuff into space, and that's expensive, so why bring it down if you're just going to shoot it back up again? Of course, not all of it's going to be sold in space. A tonne of aluminum or a tonne of water would be very valuable in orbit, but, at least for now, a tonne of platinum is going to do much more good down here on the ground in catalytic converters and electronics than it would up there being used in... I dunno what. But the stuff that stays in orbit could still be a pretty hefty chunk of the bottom line.