Build it for over a decade and then toss it in the ocean if private industry doesn't save it...........brilliant.
We should be on Mars and using that base to move out of through the solar system, damn gov't
Going into space makes no sense unless it is profitable. That profitability is what drove adventurers into the western hemisphere and it was stolen gold brought back by the Spanish that drove the economies of Europe for a couple of centuries.
Mining asteroids, particularly those rich in platinum group metals (PGM - PeGgyMays) has the potential to instigate a new industrial revolution.
The mining of asteroids, smelting, refining and even manufacturing of product from them in the zero gravity vacuum of space, would refine robotics and provide high technology with improved metals and perhaps generate electronics performance like we’ve never seen before. The problem of environmental impact will be a ‘no never mind’, and who knows? Nano technology in manufacturing may really take off when utilized in space. The main thrust of my thesis here is that much of the processes could be robotic, not requiring a human presence except periodically.
The Third Industrial Revolution, by Stine, was published in 1979 (copies are available on ebay right now). He pointed the way over thirty years ago and with the improved electronics and robotics of today it is not just science fiction. Space exploration and colonization will pay for itself.
One thing is for sure: this will require a President with vision, not some community organizer who hasn’t a clue on how wealth is actually created.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Asteroid_mining
http://www.permanent.com/a-mining.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/asteroid-mining.htm