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In reply to the discussion: Space mining startup set for launch in US [View all]pfitz59
(10,344 posts)155. About frigging time!
Mankind has got to get off earth!
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I find your publicly traded cynical synopsis to be ironic, but not stronly so.
xtraxritical
Apr 2012
#59
Not at all. That grossly underestimates the sheer amount of resources present in asteroids.
TheWraith
Apr 2012
#12
To say nothing of the definition of "trace" in a twenty-gigaton object. (nt)
Posteritatis
Apr 2012
#16
Indeed. IIRC, there's actually some asteroids with quite a lot of precious metals in them.
backscatter712
Apr 2012
#82
Really cool ideas! I am sure either one or a hybrid of energy process will end up being a solution
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#121
You can use the dust of the asteroid mass you don't mine as reaction mass as well.
AtheistCrusader
Apr 2012
#133
The fuel that is easy to come by is Alchol. It's plentiful in that situation.
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#26
Hopefully this is real. Industry should be moved off our planet, not to mention us as well.
onehandle
Apr 2012
#8
What, are you kidding? This could be worth billions for the Bioweapons division! n/t
backscatter712
Apr 2012
#112
If the shell material is strong enough and the overall density low enough it could float in air..
Fumesucker
Apr 2012
#80
Distance dude, distance....unless we come up with something like warp drive...
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#31
There's enough planets for every human currently alive to have their own leaving trillions more
4th law of robotics
Apr 2012
#46
The nice thing about exploiting asteroids and such in the solar system...
backscatter712
Apr 2012
#85
Do you have any idea how huge an amount of materials we're talking about, here?
Occulus
Apr 2012
#110
It's almost like there's a word for these sorts of quantities. Astro-somethingorother. (nt)
Posteritatis
Apr 2012
#115
Looks Like James Cameron is Actually Trying to Live the "Avatar" Movie Plot......
solarman350
Apr 2012
#33
Or he acknowledges the fact that greed is what gets people to go to new places.
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#122
I'm sure you know this, but for the rest of the class, NASA explored this idea before...
TheWraith
Apr 2012
#39
Yep, your absolutely right :) Theorectically its the faster ship we can build.
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#40
Space being what it is, pretty "small" nudges and a few years' patience works, too.
Posteritatis
Apr 2012
#42
Thats right ! I'd totally forgotten about the mass driver concept. Very elegant.
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#43
I can't help but call it fear when you pose all these fear-based suppositions.
kentauros
Apr 2012
#150
The Earth isn't a vacuum cleaner, we have an object a quarter the size of Earth that "falls"...
Humanist_Activist
Apr 2012
#137
Because we aren't talking about a sudden thrust, but rather a slow acceleration...
Humanist_Activist
Apr 2012
#152
To put it simply, its not the fall that kills you, its the stop at the end...
Humanist_Activist
Apr 2012
#156
Yep, and the common people in 1491 knew the Earth was flat and Columbus would sail off the edge..
Fumesucker
Apr 2012
#89
My father was born in 1903, the year man achieved flight, he lived to see this picture..
Fumesucker
Apr 2012
#100
Just a gentle thought, a number of studies have put NASA RoI at 7:1 or higher.
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#103
Ummm,, sorry to burst your bubble..but we have always been greedy, avaricious and destructive...
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#120
It's sad that NASA is being overtaken by private enterprise when it comes to progress in space
Phoonzang
Apr 2012
#105
Did you forget about NEOs, Near Earth Objects, and Earth Crossing Objects...
Humanist_Activist
Apr 2012
#138
Well everything falls in space one way or another, (With a Monty Python Explanation!)
Katashi_itto
Apr 2012
#127
In that case, the counterweight is going faster around Earth than Earth's escape velocity...
Humanist_Activist
Apr 2012
#153