Company Unveling Plans for Asteroid Mining Tuesday 4/24

[Nixelplix]

http://news.yahoo.com/asteroid-minin...011205183.html

Planetary Resources, Inc., a company backed by James Cameron and Larry Page, among others is officially unveiling plans for mining near-Earth asteroids Tuesday. They plan to mine platinum-group metals and water.

The water is a resource needed in space exploration. As for the platinum-group metals, "A single platinum-rich space rock 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide contains the equivalent of all the platinum-group metals ever mined throughout human history." Apparently we already know where a number of these asteroids are.

I think this is really amazing. There are riches to be exploited in these near-Earth asteroids, and it is a private venture that is funding this. It will really advance our understanding of space exploration, and our understanding of our solar system. I think it will make trillions of dollars for those involved with this project!

[Gollnick]

Mining is a very destructive extraction industry. If that destruction could be done off-planet, that would be good for the environment of our planet.

[mr2blue]

Just wait for the save the asteroids group to form

[Houndstooth]

Paul Watson is already building a space pirate ship to stop the mutilation of innocent asteroids. Damn asteroid huggers.

[timcsaw]

Hope they don't "bump" one of these big boys into the earth causing an extinction-level event (ELE)... that would suck.

[jdm61]

One of the articles that I was reading said that they estimated that you could probably stage a mission to actually capture a small asteroid and drag it into lunar orbit for around $2.7 billion. That is a bit less than twice what the shuttle missions cost PER MISSION over the lifetime of the program. Shuttle launches allegedly cost $450 million at the end of the program, but that didn't count all of the money spent on facilities, etc. over the years. These guys sound like they might be an interesting customer for the proposed SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy program. The trick will be getting the metals back on earth. From what I have read, you can bring back like 5,000 pounds of cargo to Earth in the unmanned version of the SpaceX Dragon capsule that is about to be sent to the ISS on a test flight. That is about $90,000,000 in platinum at today's prices, assuming prices stay that high. They may not if you plan to inject that much new product into the market. The total cost of a Dragon mission to the ISS is $133 million as estimated by SpaceX of which $54 million is the cost of the launch using the Falcon 9. Not sure how you make money on that unless you get some kid of "deadhead" price when the Dragon is coming back empty ir unless you plan for this to be some kind of new "green" business that delivers a product at 3-4 times the already high price of platinum group metals. The new company appears to be counting on orbital refueling and resupply of water to be a big revenue producer.

[timcsaw]

One of the articles that I was reading said that they estimated that you could probably stage a mission to actually capture a small asteroid and drag it into lunar orbit for around $2.7 billion. That is a bit less than twice what the shuttle missions cost PER MISSION over the lifetime of the program. Shuttle launches allegedly cost $450 million at the end of the program, but that didn't count all of the money spent on facilities, etc. over the years. These guys sound like they might be an interesting customer for the proposed SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy program. The trick will be getting the metals back on earth. From what I have read, you can bring back like 5,000 pounds of cargo to Earth in the unmanned version of the SpaceX Dragon capsule that is about to be sent to the ISS on a test flight. That is about $90,000,000 in platinum at today's prices, assuming prices stay that high. They may not if you plan to inject that much new product into the market. The total cost of a Dragon mission to the ISS is $133 million as estimated by SpaceX of which $54 million is the cost of the launch using the Falcon 9. Not sure how you make money on that unless you get some kid of "deadhead" price when the Dragon is coming back empty ir unless you plan for this to be some kind of new "green" business that delivers a product at 3-4 times the already high price of platinum group metals. The new company appears to be counting on orbital refueling and resupply of water to be a big revenue producer.

"Green" and "rocket launch" can't be used in the same paragraph... Rockets put out just a tad of pollution on launch (think of the children man, THINK of the CHILDREN!!!).

[Triton]

One of the articles that I was reading said that they estimated that you could probably stage a mission to actually capture a small asteroid and drag it into lunar orbit for around $2.7 billion. That is a bit less than twice what the shuttle missions cost PER MISSION over the lifetime of the program. Shuttle launches allegedly cost $450 million at the end of the program, but that didn't count all of the money spent on facilities, etc. over the years. These guys sound like they might be an interesting customer for the proposed SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy program. The trick will be getting the metals back on earth. From what I have read, you can bring back like 5,000 pounds of cargo to Earth in the unmanned version of the SpaceX Dragon capsule that is about to be sent to the ISS on a test flight. That is about $90,000,000 in platinum at today's prices, assuming prices stay that high. They may not if you plan to inject that much new product into the market. The total cost of a Dragon mission to the ISS is $133 million as estimated by SpaceX of which $54 million is the cost of the launch using the Falcon 9. Not sure how you make money on that unless you get some kid of "deadhead" price when the Dragon is coming back empty ir unless you plan for this to be some kind of new "green" business that delivers a product at 3-4 times the already high price of platinum group metals. The new company appears to be counting on orbital refueling and resupply of water to be a big revenue producer.

Maybe they are counting on the Japanese to actually build that space elevator....

[jdm61]

Of course, they could always use the left over U-238 MIRV casings from some of our missiles as reentry vehicles. But seriously, the refueling option may be a winner, but you have to get at least some of the platinum group metals back to earth, even if you are able to refine them in space. If I were looking for someone to figure out a cheap way to do that, I would probably get Burt Rutan and Elon Musk on the phone and have them put their heads together. One thing that has not been mentioned is the possibility of finding helium 3 in these asteroids. That could be nice little side business if there was enough present to make it viable and a lot easier than the moon.

Maybe they are counting on the Japanese to actually build that space elevator....

[Codger_64]

I guess there is also the possibility of bringing back unwanted lifeforms. Like tribbles. Surely they will have a plan to decontaminate the ore before they send it to earth, and to get rid of the mining debris other than just dumping the tailings in space. I read an interesting sci-fi book about this some time back, "pushing ice" by Alastair Reynolds.

[jdm61]

The $2.6 billion project was proposed by some academics and it consisted of dragging a 500 ton asteroid into lunar orbit so that they could poke and prod it. Typical eggheads. They said that they might be able to get some water out of it for radiation shielding for spacecraft, etc., but nothing about making back that multi-billion dollar investment.

[MVF]

Peter Diamandis, the guy who started the X-prize, is one of the investors. I don't know if Rutan is involved or not.

Ladies and gentleman, we are living in the age of science fiction! At least the science fiction I grew up reading - I wonder what they're writing now? Maybe I'd better check that out!

[jdm61]

Rutan keeps slipping in and out of retirement. I mentioned him and Musk because those are the two guys who could get this thing off the ground (literally) sooner than about anyone else.

Peter Diamandis, the guy who started the X-prize, is one of the investors. I don't know if Rutan is involved or not.

Ladies and gentleman, we are living in the age of science fiction! At least the science fiction I grew up reading - I wonder what they're writing now? Maybe I'd better check that out!

[Triton]

Peter Diamandis, the guy who started the X-prize, is one of the investors. I don't know if Rutan is involved or not.

Ladies and gentleman, we are living in the age of science fiction! At least the science fiction I grew up reading - I wonder what they're writing now? Maybe I'd better check that out!

I wouldn't. It pretty much consists of grungy plots and lack of imagination mixed up with space ships. I miss Asimov, Bradbury and the rest of the greats.

[jdm61]

One thing that these guys did say is that the ability to get water from what is essentially a zero G environment would make long range manned exploration simpler and cheaper than having to hoist up fuel and water from Earth or even the Moon. Boeing has already proposed a "service station' that would be parked at the Earth-Moon L1 or possibly L2 point to be used as a way station for Moon landings and missions to other planets, but it would still require fuel and water deliveries from Earth. Having a closer source would sure make that more practical. This does sound a bit like the early version of the "comet wranglers" that Arthur C. Clarke had in 3001 who were going out to the outer planets to capture comets so they could be dumped onto Venus in an effort to cool off and "terraform" the planet. Of course, the big water and fuel jackpot as far as having a LOT of it in a single location are the systems of Jupiter and Saturn, but that is a long way off in the future.

I wouldn't. It pretty much consists of grungy plots and lack of imagination mixed up with space ships. I miss Asimov, Bradbury and the rest of the greats.

[timcsaw]

Peter Diamandis, the guy who started the X-prize, is one of the investors. I don't know if Rutan is involved or not.

Ladies and gentleman, we are living in the age of science fiction! At least the science fiction I grew up reading - I wonder what they're writing now? Maybe I'd better check that out!

Checking it out might get you into a pickle... you might find that you're nothing more than a captive human battery encased in a pod, providing power to the machine masters. Blue pill or red?