I don't normally start threads, but I hadn't noticed anyone else talking about this and I thought a few people here might be interested. A group of tycoons have formed a company called Planetary Resources with the stated intention of commercially exploiting resources found in space, including mining precious metals and water for rocket fuel. It's heady stuff that harkens back to some of the more ambitious science fiction of the last century. It will be absolutely amazing if it pans out, though the group face many challenges, most of all the high cost of getting things into and out of Earth orbit.

You can read more at the Guardian:
Tech tycoons in asteroid mining venture | Science | guardian.co.uk

The companies own site:
www.planetaryresources.com

And from Phil Plat over at Badastronomy:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...hey-can-do-it/
Enjoy!

James Cameron should know better, has he not watched Armageddon? Tricky thing mining on Asteroids!

Originally Posted by LOCALHERO

James Cameron should know better, has he not watched Armageddon? Tricky thing mining on Asteroids!

Maybe Cameron has a better handle on asteroid physics than Michael Bay

If they think mining on Asteroids is hard.

They want to try piling for Haemorrhoids.

Originally Posted by LOCALHERO

James Cameron should know better, has he not watched Armageddon? Tricky thing mining on Asteroids!

true, you would also think he would keep his head down after the submarine incident
The Daily Mash - Microbes at bottom of Mariana Trench thought Avatar was ************************

Wasnt too long ago that Richard Branson was going on about space flights for the super rich, what ever happened to that!

If we are ever going to venture in to space it looks like its big business who will get us there. THe question is do we want big business ruining other worlds!

Yaaarrr,

Ye mine away lubbers, gather up yer booty,

But beware of the Jolly Roger coming out from behind the dark side of the moon,

As Captain Ribeye and his crew emerge looking for plunder,

Pieces of eight!

Originally Posted by Malboury

I don't normally start threads, but I hadn't noticed anyone else talking about this and I thought a few people here might be interested. A group of tycoons have formed a company called Planetary Resources with the stated intention of commercially exploiting resources found in space, including mining precious metals and water for rocket fuel. It's heady stuff that harkens back to some of the more ambitious science fiction of the last century. It will be absolutely amazing if it pans out, though the group face many challenges, most of all the high cost of getting things into and out of Earth orbit.

You can read more at the Guardian:
Tech tycoons in asteroid mining venture | Science | guardian.co.uk

The companies own site:
www.planetaryresources.com

And from Phil Plat over at Badastronomy:
Breaking: Private company does indeed plan to mine asteroids… and I think they can do it | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine
Enjoy!

Might lead on to even greater things - a hollowed out asteroid husk could be a very good basis for deepspace manned spacecraft.

I am Deeply in love with this idea, Mankind needs to get off this plannet and start spreading itself about a bit, things like this are the 1st baby steps. (Womankind as well obviously)

I wouldn't get too excited about this (despite the attractiveness of the idea). There are so many problems to overcome to make this possible even in engineering terms it is unlikely to get very far. The amount of energy required to bring an asteroid back is staggering and all of that energy will have to come from the earth's budget in some way. I'm pretty sure it won't be (directly) economical to do it so massive subsidy will be required. It may be nice to do as an advertisement about how great we are (like landing on the moon) but there isn't that much else.