Posted on 04/23/2018 10:12:11 AM PDT by Red Badger
A galactic gold rush has been predicted for some time, with experts saying teams will race against each other to collect precious metals from space rocks.
Earlier this year, physicist Michio Kaku described asteroids as “flying gold mine[s] in outer space” that could replenish any metal shortage on Earth.
Examples of valuable asteroids include one rock measuring 3,000ft across that contains $5.4 trillion worth of platinum.
And now it is predicted the first trillionaire will make their fortune in outer space.
PRICELESS: One asteroid contains $5.4trillion worth of platinum
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Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson: “The first trillionaire there will ever be is the person who exploits the natural resources on asteroids.
“There’s this vast universe of limitless energy and limitless resources.
“I look at wars fought over access to resources. That could be a thing of the past, once space becomes our backyard.”
A fortune of a trillion would make them wealthier than the world's richest men Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates combined.
Finance company Goldman Sachs has also been closely monitoring the space mining market.
The investment bank said in a recent statement: “While the psychological barrier to mining asteroids is high, the actual financial and technological barriers are far lower.
“Prospecting probes can likely be built for tens of millions of dollars each and Caltech has suggested an asteroid-grabbing spacecraft could cost $2.6 billion.”
At the moment, the race to bring back these flying metals is between private companies.
However, this looks set to change after Luxembourg established the Space Resources Initiative.
The country’s government is planning to dole out millions in funding to companies looking to exploit space’s natural resources.
Our goal is to put into place an overall framework for the exploration and commercial use of resources from ‘celestial bodies’ such as asteroids, or from the moon,” commented Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s deputy prime minister and minister of the economy.
I don’t know. Parker is trying to follow in Todd’s footsteps! Guyana! lol
Monopoly depends on whether governments grab control of the space mining. If they do competition becomes war or at least dependent on power relations.
precious metals are going to need to get a lot more precious for an investment to pay off that requires escaping earths gravity with equipment and fuel to remotely mine and process for minerals, and then bring it safely back to earth. Gold, for example, is quite heavy and seems like a re-entry concern. Escaping gravity is only half the problem.
The value of a thing [metal, oil, avocados] is necessarily increased by not putting it on the market..............
Assuming that asteroid is spherical, its value works out to not quite $400 per cubic foot.
How many cubic feet would be returned to earth on each trip?
I guess "renowned" means he's on TV a lot.
Just attach rockets to it and point it at the earth.
What could possibly go wrong?.....................
I call Bovine Excrement.
There’s already a trillionaire family; how can another be the first?
They are European and have been into banking for several centuries. They are low profile though.
But their money is spread around, this would be ONE person.................
You have a number?.................
As I recall each of the 2 borthers is worth about 1.2T.
Once that much metal becomes available, the price will drop to cheaper than water ! <
Yep. At one time pure aluminum was more valuable than gold. Then some clever fellow figured out how to cheaply extract aluminum from aluminum ore.
Great way to destroy gold and platinum values...
You get it, then you withhold it from the market.
You take out ‘loans’ using it as collateral.....................
So a space miner becomes a Trillionaire. What then? I guess you get to work on making your second trillion.
Less than the cost of mining and shipping.
LOL !
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