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.
In the year 2200 maybe.
is anyone thinking about what would happen if we tossed one of those asteroids off it’s orbital axis and send it hurtling into paris?!
the real money is controlling the Spice.
Pipe dream........
They will only become a $Trillionaire this way if they act like OPEC and control access and earth delivery of the precious metals. Otherwise they will create a glut in supply and undercut the enrichment of their own new found riches. They have to trickle out the additional supply so that it enters earth markets without depressing earth prices.
Then comes the question world courts - sovereign and international - will be asked to step into - can individuals or companies claim ownership, sole possession of, or sole rights to, objects in space. I would suggest “why not”?, but then I am not a judge of the Liberal activist or international globalist persuasion.
I’m sure anybody that has the means already knows that this would depress prices. So they withhold it, and use it as leverage and collateral..............
At this point, yes.
But soon, maybe 50 years, it will be a reality...............
Yes, unfortunately you don’t have to understand Econ 101 concepts like “supply and demand” in order to be a science writer or a pop culture “science expert”.
I doubt you are correct. Instead they WILL be stupid and first dump their resources on the markets to depress prices, to put competitors on financial skids, so that many of its competitors go under, which the new $Trillionaire will scoop up, until they have a near monopoly and command what prices they want to.
Ahhh, but all monopolies contain the seeds of their own destruction, generating a necessary search for and creation of alternatives to the point that the monopoly has caused the production of true competitors to itself. By then market prices of the precious metals of the monopolist will be reduced back to and below their pre-monopoly prices, eating away at the monopolists wealth at the same time.
Plus, don’t forget than once we have space ships transporting loads of precious metals, we are going to get space pirates.
You just nudge it into the gravity well and let nature take its course.
Sure, you might occasionally hit a city and the kinetic force will obliterate it like a multi-megaton nuclear bomb, but the earth is so big that should be pretty rare.
the unit price will go down when the supply increases
“Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson...”
Um... ‘supply’... ‘demand’ ring a bell?
Cost to make or get an object has no bearing - except for the happiness of the maker/fetcher.
>>as well as quantity manipulation, <<
Read my ENTIRE quote:
“...as well as quantity manipulation.”
Does “quantity” vs. “quantity demanded” ruing a bell?
Probably not as most people are dunces when it comes to economics.
If you don’t know the difference then you are not able to discuss economics intelligently.
LMAO!
I am glad you recognized that fact about yourself. Perhaps you could find a nice bridge game to join?
Really wouldn’t expect to send the bulk of a find back to Earth. There are many projects upstairs that will use the materials.
We’ll all be trillionaires!
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