Posted on 01/22/2013 5:56:37 AM PST by RoosterRedux
A new asteroid-mining company launches Tuesday with the goal of helping humanity expand across the solar system by tapping the vast riches of space rocks.
The new firm, called Deep Space Industries, Inc., announced Tuesday, Jan. 22, that it plans to launch a fleet of prospecting spacecraft in 2015, then begin harvesting metals and water from near-Earth asteroids within a decade or so. Such work could make it possible to build and refuel spacecraft far above our planet's surface, thus helping our species get a foothold in the final frontier.
"Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development," Deep Space CEO David Gump said in a statement. Deep Space Industries will hold a press conference today in Santa Monica, Calif., at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST/1800 GMT) to unveil more details of its bold mission plan; you can watch the webcast live at SPACE.com.
"More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every year," Gump explained. "They can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit car industry last century — a key resource located near where it was needed. In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the in-space industries of this century. That is our strategy." [How Asteroid Mining Could Work (Infographic)]
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This will go nowhere without HUGE government subsidies and cronyism. He’s more likely going to tap Washington and our wallets than any asteroids.
Later
Solar powered smelters, forges, and foundries?
For some odd reason I have this gut feeling Muslims won’t be applying for the job of being space miners.
This is great!
I’ve written about this here on FR in the past.
As for a government subsidization, I don’t think so.
There are items that can be manufactured by robots in the zero gravity vacuum of space that cannot be created on Earth. These items, some of which will create another boom in hi-tech electronics, will fuel our economy just like mining shale has done for petroleum and natural gas production.
/johnny
We’re getting to the point in miniaturization and communications where missions like this can be conducted on a shoestring budget.
Better have some REALLY BIG batteries. Maybe they should consult with Boeing.
Yup. Government involvement is more of a hindrance than a help and the money guys know it.
This has some serious prospects. As an example, the near Earth asteroid “433 Eros” just 34km x 11km x 11km, passes fairly near to Earth, and importantly, is believed to have more platinum group metals than the entire crust of Earth, along with other precious metals.
It is interesting enough so that NASA has already landed a probe on it.
The concept of mining it envisions landing a nuclear powered spacecraft on it, almost certainly manned at first, but later robotic, whose purpose would be to partially concentrate metals into a large ball of ores, with the most precious of them in its interior, and surrounded by a thick layer of less valuable ones.
Because 433 Eros is rotating, the best way to return such balls to Earth would be to attach a signalling device to them, then reel them away from Eros on a long cable, using the centrifugal force to accelerate it to a good speed, then releasing it from the cable in the direction of Earth, where it would be recovered when it intersected the orbital path and returned to the surface.
And it's still going to be cheaper to just get more Platinum out of mines on Earth.
These ventures will make Tesla, Fisker, and Solyndra look sound by comparison.
People have always had to escape government tyranny by learning to live in the wildernesw, this is no different.
Somebody needs to be offering legitimate and affordable mineral claims to help fund this sort of thing. Obviously the primary financier of the mission would get the biggest share. Its a shot in the dark but lots of people play the lottery.
/johnny
We’ll wait and see. If it is purely commercial, they won’t be around long. But I expect that they’ll quickly run out of money and go begging at the government teat. All insane schemes do that.
It would be far cheaper to “mine” the garbage dumps on earth.
Let’s find another planet as the socialists/democrats are ruining this one.
Agreed but I was thinking the leftists/socialists/democrat/progressives could go there instead. They could start that wonderful socialist utopian government they so long far and who knows maybe it will work this time. Riiiiight. They could tax and spend to their heart’s content.
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