[extropy-chat] FWD [Skeptic] Re: defending the Vision for Space Exploration

[Ned Late]

How much is it at this time to send each pound into
space?
Can robots mine asteroids for platinum & gold?



> Actually, it might be cost-effective to ship
> platinum
> and similar precious metals back from asteroids:
> you'd
> concentrate on just the highest value per unit mass,
> and asteroids don't have major launch/landing
> delta-V.
> Again, it would help to significantly reduce the
> cost
> of launch from Earth.  (Of course, to get
> significant
> quantities of this, you'd focus on M-type asteroids
> like Amun, which are relatively rare.)
> 
> There are those who claim the value of raw iron in
> space is greatly increased by its being in space.  I
> disagree with them, at least for the short term,
> because that would require a number of customers for
> iron in space, which do not yet exist.  Maybe in the
> future, though.  Say, bring an M-type asteroid to
> the
> L4 or L5 point, extract the platinum there for
> transfer to Earth, and leave the rest of the iron
> along with satellites to mark it as "claimed".  If
> and
> when space industry subsequently emerges, you can
> cash
> in on it (and give it a boost)...but that's beyond
> the
> time horizon for most investors.  Better to focus on
> stuff that's valuable after being brought down to
> Earth.
> 
> > Handing over space to the private realm would lead
> > to a concentration on
> > those things that might make money - holidays in
> > orbit etc - over those
> > that clearly won't, e.g. can we land something on
> > Pluto just to see if
> > it has any atmosphere?
> 
> NASA would continue to have a proper role in the
> latter, in that case, rather than trying to dominate
> and dictate the former as well.  This is an outcome
> that those of us who wish for more private space
> companies would like to see happen - even if it
> means
> the destruction of "NASA" and its replacement with
> an
> equivalent agency that does not have NASA's current
> management culture.
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>
http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo/extropy-chat
> 


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search.
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250