Asteroids Mining to finance

[Gerdih]

Hi,

I have read this in wikipedia, impresionant:

-At 1997 prices, a relatively small metallic asteroid with a diameter of 1 mile contains more than $20 trillion US dollars worth of industrial and precious metals.[1] In fact, all the gold, cobalt[[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/ame]], iron[[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/ame]], manganese[[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/ame]], molybdenum[[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/ame]], nickel[[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/ame]]

-In 2004, the world production of [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_ore"]iron ore[/ame] exceeded a billion metric tons.[4] In comparison, a comparatively small M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 1 km could contain more than two billion metric tons of [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron"]iron[/ame]-[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel"]nickel[/ame] ore,[5] or two to three times the annual production for 2004.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining"]Asteroid mining - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


Somebody know if it is true?

And Its possible to go there in a near future and get money to the emergent private industry like SpaceX or others(I am refering about precious metals like platinum) ?

 

[Turbinator]

New we just need to find an Asteroid with wood.

 

[MeDiCS]

Your post is incomplete:

[ citation needed]

 

[Gerdih]

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1994/94JE02141.shtml

A citation

 

[SiberianTiger]

Will make sense only if one builds stuff out of those ores right there, in outer space. Requires designing most of the industrial processes from scratch and with very open mind.

 

[T.Neo]

Not feasible for supplying the Earth, at least not at the current point in time. The costs of transport are simply too high.

Requires designing most of the industrial processes from scratch and with very open mind.

Agreed- methods used for asteroid mining and refining would be pretty interesting to say the least...

 

[N_Molson]

... and using ionic thrusters to send these asteroids in LEO would be... dangerous

 

[Unstung]

And mining them and returning the resources back to Earth? A ship would have to carry a lot of resources.

 

[RisingFury]

... and using ionic thrusters to send these asteroids in LEO would be... dangerous

The problem is more along the lines of... difficult, not so much dangerous.

If you want to avoid most danger, you'd park it in a Lunar orbit, so if it does de-orbit and crash, it doesn't crash into Earth. My guess off the top of my head would also be that it would be easier to slow it down enough for a capture. And if you have a cheap ability to capture and mine asteroids, you won't mind flying into Lunar orbit.

 

[Izack]

The problem is more along the lines of... difficult, not so much dangerous.

If you want to avoid most danger, you'd park it in a Lunar orbit, so if it does de-orbit and crash, it doesn't crash into Earth. My guess off the top of my head would also be that it would be easier to slow it down enough for a capture. And if you have a cheap ability to capture and mine asteroids, you won't mind flying into Lunar orbit.

How is it easier to capture around the Moon? Wouldn't aerobraking the asteroid be easier? (But also about as unsafe as you can get? :lol

 

[Jarvitä]

How is it easier to capture around the Moon? Wouldn't aerobraking the asteroid be easier? (But also about as unsafe as you can get? :lol

Not to mention the fact that Earth has an escape velocity 10km/s higher than the moon. In fact, getting an NEO into lunar orbit would be damn near pointless, you might as well just mine it from its current location to begin with. LEO is the only commercialy viable option.

 

[Gerdih]

Or you can do that the asteroid impacts the moon and obtain the material from the crater. the better way to brake the asteroid and proccess the material into small pieces xdd

 

[T.Neo]

I shudder to think what the air drag on an asteroid would be in LEO...

Then again it would make for a pretty site from the surface. :hmm:

 

[Izack]

I shudder to think what the air drag on an asteroid would be in LEO...

Then again it would make for a pretty site from the surface. :hmm:

I would argue against placing one in LEO, or GEO, because of the commercial cislunar traffic bound to erupt in a society capable of moving NEOs into Earth orbit.

As for sightseeing, I wouldn't want to look up with my telescope to see an asteroid smash a space station.

 

[Tycho]

New we just need to find an Asteroid with wood.

Good luck. If that happens, I want you to contact me immediately :lol: