Asteroid mining

[doodle]

What are people's feelings regarding asteroid mining and the potential to open up vast resources in space. I know it seems far fetched, but no more so than the idea of humans walking on the moon or atomic energy must have seemed to people in the early 20th century. Human ingenuity spurred by market demands has the capability of accomplishing amazing things. If asteroid mining shows promise at extracting minerals a reconsideration of the portfolio might be called for....

[MachineGhost]

What are people's feelings regarding asteroid mining and the potential to open up vast resources in space. I know it seems far fetched, but no more so than the idea of humans walking on the moon or atomic energy must have seemed to people in the early 20th century. Human ingenuity spurred by market demands has the capability of accomplishing amazing things. If asteroid mining shows promise at extracting minerals a reconsideration of the portfolio might be called for....

Maybe you're unaware that all the gold on Earth is actually remnants from distant supernovas?  That's why its so rare.  Mining asteroids won't change this fact.

MG

[Gosso]

What are people's feelings regarding asteroid mining and the potential to open up vast resources in space. I know it seems far fetched, but no more so than the idea of humans walking on the moon or atomic energy must have seemed to people in the early 20th century. Human ingenuity spurred by market demands has the capability of accomplishing amazing things. If asteroid mining shows promise at extracting minerals a reconsideration of the portfolio might be called for....

You just described my dream job.  Although there is no way this will ever happen in my lifetime.  I will be happy just to send humans to Mars.

Ultimately it comes down to costs.  If it costs more than $800/oz to mine gold from an asteroid, then it won't happen, since we can extract gold from the Earth at around $700/oz (just a guess).  Plus you would need to transport the raw material from the asteroid to Earth for processing to extract the in situ gold from the other less valuable minerals.  Another problem is that you would flood the market with gold (or whatever valuable minerals are contained within the asteroid), which would significantly drop the price of the mineral.  This means the costs to extract the gold would need to be even lower, maybe $400/oz.

One application for asteroid mining may come from long range human space travel.  Many asteroids and comets contain large amounts of ice, which can then be converted into oxygen and hydrogen, and could be used to refuel the spacecraft.

Fun to think about.

[AdamA]

What are people's feelings regarding asteroid mining and the potential to open up vast resources in space. I know it seems far fetched, but no more so than the idea of humans walking on the moon or atomic energy must have seemed to people in the early 20th century. Human ingenuity spurred by market demands has the capability of accomplishing amazing things. If asteroid mining shows promise at extracting minerals a reconsideration of the portfolio might be called for....

I personally believe that this idea that humankind will expand into outerspace is a delusion.  We like to think that we can grow indefinitely, but I think the reality is the opposite. 

Just my party-pooping opinion, though.

[MediumTex]

What are people's feelings regarding asteroid mining and the potential to open up vast resources in space. I know it seems far fetched, but no more so than the idea of humans walking on the moon or atomic energy must have seemed to people in the early 20th century. Human ingenuity spurred by market demands has the capability of accomplishing amazing things. If asteroid mining shows promise at extracting minerals a reconsideration of the portfolio might be called for....

I personally believe that this idea that humankind will expand into outerspace is a delusion.  We like to think that we can grow indefinitely, but I think the reality is the opposite. 

Just my party-pooping opinion, though.

Assuming that mining asteroids ever became technically feasible, what possible mineral could justify that kind of expense?

The cost (and risk) of an activity like that would be off the charts.  And for what?  Some shiny metal?

Escaping earth's orbit and returning safely is REALLY hard to do.  It's also very expensive.  I think that's why we've only done it a few times.

The Moon missions were a fantastic display of human ingenuity and technological prowess, but the fact that we last did it around 40 years ago really speaks volumes.

[dualstow]

The Bad Astronomy guy wrote about it recently:

The plan structure is reminiscent of that of Apollo: have a big goal in mind, but make sure the steps along the way are practical.
The key point is that their plan is not to simply mine precious metals and make millions or billions of dollars– though that’s a long-range goal. If that were the only goal, it would cost too much, be too difficult, and probably not be attainable.

The idea is to eventually get a foothold in space.
More at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badas ... can-do-it/

[MediumTex]

The Bad Astronomy guy wrote about it recently:

The plan structure is reminiscent of that of Apollo: have a big goal in mind, but make sure the steps along the way are practical.
The key point is that their plan is not to simply mine precious metals and make millions or billions of dollars– though that’s a long-range goal. If that were the only goal, it would cost too much, be too difficult, and probably not be attainable.

The idea is to eventually get a foothold in space.
More at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badas ... can-do-it/

Sort of like the Space Shuttle program was supposed to give us a foothold for regular orbital missions?  As far as I can tell, the missions never quite became routine--it stayed difficult and risky to the very end.

The Space Shuttle was a great program and I'm sure much good came from it, but the fact that it wasn't deemed useful enough to continue says a lot.

[dualstow]

Sort of like the Space Shuttle program was supposed to give us a foothold for regular orbital missions?  As far as I can tell, the missions never quite became routine--it stayed difficult and risky to the very end.

The Space Shuttle was a great program and I'm sure much good came from it, but the fact that it wasn't deemed useful enough to continue says a lot.

LOL. You'll have to take it up with them.
I guess my opinion on this is that if it's done privately -- increasingly, space exploration will be done privately -- and not not funded by taxpayers, I say go for it. Publicly ... I'd rather have healthcare and public transportation.

[MediumTex]

Sort of like the Space Shuttle program was supposed to give us a foothold for regular orbital missions?  As far as I can tell, the missions never quite became routine--it stayed difficult and risky to the very end.

The Space Shuttle was a great program and I'm sure much good came from it, but the fact that it wasn't deemed useful enough to continue says a lot.

LOL. You'll have to take it up with them.
I guess my opinion on this is that if it's done privately -- increasingly, space exploration will be done privately -- and not not funded by taxpayers, I say go for it. Publicly ... I'd rather have healthcare and public transportation.

Sort of like Andy Griffith did in "Salvage 1"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_1

BTW, I like your new avatar, but I feel like it's missing something...

[Reub]

Now that is one scary "guy"! 

[dualstow]

Salvage 1, hmm, can I get that on BluRay?

[AdamA]

Salvage 1, hmm, can I get that on BluRay?

I'll save you the time and money.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HODkJABWo08.  This is pretty much the whole show (1:30)

[MediumTex]

Salvage 1, hmm, can I get that on BluRay?

I'll save you the time and money.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HODkJABWo08.  This is pretty much the whole show (1:30)

For some reason, when I was 10 years old it seemed a LOT cooler.

[AdamA]

For some reason, when I was 10 years old it seemed a LOT cooler.

Don't get me wrong...I still think it's cool.

[atrchi]

Earth Core Mining, not Asteroid mining, will be the end of gold as a store of value.

Want to freak out a gold bug, give them this article:
http://discovermagazine.com/2006/sep/innerfortknox

[WildAboutHarry]

I recently read somewhere (senior moment, can anybody help?) that the author considered that going to the moon was the ultimate human achievement, the most difficult feat ever accomplished by humanity.  And the fact that we have not been back is illustrative of how difficult that act was.

[MachineGhost]

I recently read somewhere (senior moment, can anybody help?) that the author considered that going to the moon was the ultimate human achievement, the most difficult feat ever accomplished by humanity.  And the fact that we have not been back is illustrative of how difficult that act was.

I say what we need is another good ol' Cold War to focus the population's attention to where it really matters: nation-building in outer space.

MG

[MediumTex]

I recently read somewhere (senior moment, can anybody help?) that the author considered that going to the moon was the ultimate human achievement, the most difficult feat ever accomplished by humanity.  And the fact that we have not been back is illustrative of how difficult that act was.

I think that 1,000 years from now, the U.S. in the 20th century will be studied based upon its pre and post-peak of world power and prestige, and I think that the peak of the overall U.S. experiment was probably around 1969, with the absolute peak cultural, social, and technological experience being the first manned Moon mission.  At this point, the nation was showing signs of stress, but it wasn't yet clear that Vietnam would be the country's first loss in a war, that the U.S. would be forced off the gold standard two years later due to fiscal and economic incompetence, the first President would be forced from office a few years later, etc.

It's sort of staggering to consider how much damage LBJ and Nixon did to this country through basic incompetence and hubris.  It's possible that we are currently watching a similar bi-partisan duo in the form of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

[WildAboutHarry]

I say what we need is another good ol' Cold War to focus the population's attention to where it really matters: nation-building in outer space.

Well, that is one way to look at it.  But global satellite communication, GPS navigation, the environmental movement (yes, the photos looking back at earth), and countless other innovations were derived or benefited, in whole or in part, from "nation-building in outer space."  Not to mention Tang.

[Gosso]

NASA training astronauts for asteroid mission (listen to this song while reading the article):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/spac ... ssion.html

COOL!  Always good to have an insurance policy.

[doodle]

Seems like the mining for precious metals portion has been set aside....

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 2639525550

[Kshartle]

I recently read somewhere (senior moment, can anybody help?) that the author considered that going to the moon was the ultimate human achievement, the most difficult feat ever accomplished by humanity.  And the fact that we have not been back is illustrative of how difficult that act was.

What technogical acheivment from 45 years ago is not relatively simple now?

[Kshartle]

I checked out Richard Branson's asteriod mining company for opportunites a few months ago since I'm in the Areospace Industry.

Nothing appropriate yet. They are really laying the foundation and looking for ex-NASA and Areospace Execs and folks with major sales contacts.

I'm keeping an eye on it though. Seems like a very exciting proposition to go mine an asteriod.

[doodle]

I checked out Richard Branson's asteriod mining company for opportunites a few months ago since I'm in the Areospace Industry.

Nothing appropriate yet. They are really laying the foundation and looking for ex-NASA and Areospace Execs and folks with major sales contacts.

I'm keeping an eye on it though. Seems like a very exciting proposition to go mine an asteriod.

For water....metals have been taken off the table presently.

[Mark Leavy]

What technogical acheivment from 45 years ago is not relatively simple now?

1969 was 45 years ago.  I think there was technological achievement that year that is not relatively simple now - and will not likely be duplicated for some time.