We ban mining, drilling, hillside cutting, smelting, and such here in America, but want to launch billion dollar rockets into space in order to chase asteroids in order to extract 200 pounds of the same raw materials we sit on right here on earth under my rusty old F-150 parked out back?
LOL! The first thing I thought after reading your post was I’d move my truck a little, get a shovel and start digging!
LOL. Look up the elemental composition of "nickel-iron" asteroids.
If you have a deposit like that in your backyard, you need to immediately file a mining claim and start digging.
From wikipedia:
.....chemical composition is dominated by the elements Fe, Ni and Co, which make up more than 95%.
yep
and we use taxpayer dollars to make grants and loans to these billionaires to go get their space gold because some liberal think tank has already figured a “global tax” will save mankind, create jobs and rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges (not necessarily in that order)
The initial cash investments are astronomical but once the infrastructure is in place it becomes virtually free in comparison to mining and manufacturing on earth.
No leases to sign and dispute, materials are free, energy is free, transportation costs are low.