[bobdsmith]

i doubt it :-) the cost of mining and returning said minerals to earth would be counter productive and cost more than the minerals are worth here on Earth

Let me respond to this with a really unrealistic senario.

What if we find an asteroid made of minerals noone has ever seen before? and by chance those minerals turn out to be really really expensive? And what if we found out how to build a perpetual motion machine that gives us infinite energy for nothing? And what if we also built teleporters that used that energy to teleport spaceships into orbit and back?

Not so sure about the lack of profitablity it astroid mining now are you?

[Kelly_2000]

ha ha ha

let me get this right?

"iWhat if we find an asteroid made of minerals........."!

""And what if we found out how to build a perpetual motion machine "

"And what if we also built teleporters that used that energy to teleport spaceships into orbit and back?"

So basically 3 !what if" arguments that are based on science fiction are supposed to convince me that mining asteroids will be somehow profitable? Despite citing one example a "perpetual motion engine" which can never exist. Also inventing teleportation seems to be a sticking point for you too LOL No sorry i am still very sure this will never happen until we have colonized some planetoid near such an asteroid.