New Space Mining Legislation Is 'History in the Making'

Name one, which is not at least 10 times cheaper to extract from ocean water.

 

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Name one that has a price of greater than $40,000/lb. That's a generous estimate of what it will cost once you get the mining operation operating super-efficiently.

 

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You're doing that backwards. The light bulbs are the use and the electricity the infrastructure. The use for electricity obviously had to be invented before electrical distribution was needed. That's exactly my point. A company that succeeds in mining an asteroid succeeds only in bringing an infrastructure to market that nobody needs/wants. Even if they don't realize the futility, they'll find out really quickly when they bring their $4,000/ounce gold to market and no one wants to buy it.

 

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Mining asteroid now [or in the near future] could enhance any future project through experience gained in many areas including exploring, living and working in space. That is the goal of all space agencies.
If a private concern wants to try an innovative approach, good luck to them I say. I wish them all the best, as I do with Mars One, and the "100 Year Star Ship" Company, and "Tau Zero".
Most of those have reputable people at the helm.
I once spent weeks arguing with a bloke on another forum, re the benefit of the ISS. He was dead set against it, for economic reasons mainly, but also because he did not believe that it was getting us to the Moon again, or to Mars.

We've come a long way since Sputnik and Explorer 1, and who would have thought back then that Satellites would be totally indispensible as they are now.
I applaud any reasonable space endeavour by anyone at all, including the Ruskies and Chinese. It is the future, and space mining is one that I see as necessary as are Satellites.
We were not born to stagnate on this fart arse little blue Orb.

 

Great! None of that requires mining an asteroid! We can save ourselves half a trillion dollars and just extend the funding for the ISS by a few years instead.

Why I disagree is that they aren't simply "a private concern", they are scams, duping innocent people out of money. They are causing real harm to support their imaginary projects.

Disagree, but I'd like to see who some of those people are.

Were you arguing that the ISS was getting us to the Moon or Mars? It most certainly is not and was not ever intended for supporting such goals.

All that is really Cool. But as a responsible adult, Cool is not enough for me anymore. Perhaps more to the point, though, there are other Cool things we could do with half a trillion dollars, in space. Such as build a 2 AU baseline optical interferometer to take pictures of exoplanets and prove we aren't alone in the universe. That would be Cool and wouldn't cost half a trillion dollars.

 

We could also redirect as experience is gained, a Life extinction/Dinosaur type asteroid from colliding with Earth one day.

 

That has very little to do with mining asteroids -- it would be far, far easier to deflect an asteroid than to mine it.

In order to not be a scam, there needs to be a real plan in place and the people running it have to actually believe it could succeed. I don't believe either is true. Regardless, the freedom of the duped does not ever excuse fraud.

That's not an aerospace engineering company, much less an asteroid mining company, it's just a think tank. It doesn't do anything but think and talk.

That's basically just a message board - not even a think tank, much less an aerospace engineering company, much less an asteroid mining company.

No, neither of them work for NASA. Both did at one time, though...and I agree they are not quacks. But neither answer my request.

I noticed you didn't cite the company mentioned in the OP, which is odd. They're at least an actual aerospace company. Their claim to fame is "launching" a cubesat. Hell, I could do that!

 

I disagree. Expertise gained in bring them into Earth orbit, would certainly pay dividends if one was going to strike Earth.

Planetary Resources does have plans.

 

Please provide details/links of their asteroid mining plans. All I could find were plans to make small telescopes and cubesats.

I don't see how that's possible - neither are actually doing anything and have no plans to. In either case, neither fulfill my request and neither support the premise of the OP.

Lol, no. They aren't even claiming to be doing or inventing anything. They are nothing.

Europe basically abolished their militaries, but didn't re-direct that money to space exploration. I see no reason to believe we would either. There are a lot of more pressing needs.

In that case, you're really backing the wrong horse!

 

They have goals. You and I and NASA, know what those goals are.

Why wouldn't they be at the forefront when the time comes?
All the premise of the OP is, is a few laws to regulate mining when the time comes. Nothing more, nothing less.

They are researching difficult terrain, What are you saying? All should be disbanded and all research, study, and any subsequent actions stopped because you don't agree? or because it costs money?

How much does world militaristic spending amount to?
Other pressing needs, sure there are. But just think how the world's pressing needs in the late fifties and since, have been attended to many times over through simple satellite technology.//lets see, agriculture, meteorology, navigation, etc

Probably true, but then who really knows?

 

All I've seen is the one-liner statement that mining is a goal. I'll take your declining to provide details as an acknowledgement that there are no details to be had. To me, that's not a real goal.

Because they aren't doing anything that would put them at the forefront of anything. When the time comes, it is real aerospace companies (Lockheed, SpaceX, etc.) that will be at the forefront -- companies that actually build spacecraft.

No: the title of the OP mentions laws, but none of the content of the OP is about laws, it is about the nonexistent plans of a scam of a company. Your not so subtle change of language from "plans" to "goals" proves my point: This is a nothingburger.

I see no evidence that they are researching anything related to the claims made in the OP. That's what I'm saying. That's what makes them a sham.

Something on the order of a trillion dollars a year.

 

Exactly. One is useless without the other. That's why Edison had to sell bulbs AND lighting plants. Once that happened, then others started creating new loads and new power sources.

They might - but they could make a lot more money selling aluminum for $4000 a kilo, delivered to geosync orbit. Since that is 4x cheaper than it currently costs, people will use it. Not because they want to support asteroid mining, but because it will make them more money for their sharehholders.

 

billvon, when you state "selling aluminum for $4000 a kilo, delivered to geosync orbit. Since that is 4x cheaper than it currently costs", what exactly are you referring to when you state "kilo"?
Is that "kilo"gram, or "kilo"ton, or ???

I ask because Aluminum is currently selling for less than $1.oo (US) per pound (lb.)...

http://www.vincentmetals.com/Daily_Aluminum_Prices.html
" Daily Aluminum Prices
November 12, 2015: $0.67 per pound
Today's Aluminum Commodity Price (LME Cash Buyer)."
above quoted from : http://www.vincentmetals.com/Daily_Aluminum_Prices.html

 

I cannot explain why my previous Post is corrupted with run-on-italics!!!
It should read :
Billvon, what exactly are you referring to when you state "kilo" - is it "kilo"gram, or "kilo"ton, or ???

At any rate, Aluminum is currently selling for less than $1.00 (US) per pound (lb).

http://www.vincentmetals.com/Daily_Aluminum_Prices.html
" Daily Aluminum Prices
November 12, 2015: $0.67 per pound
Today's Aluminum Commodity Price (LME Cash Buyer)."
above quoted from : http://www.vincentmetals.com/Daily_Aluminum_Prices.html

 

KiloGRAM.

Yep. Now price it as delivered to geosynchronous orbit. As a hint, the cheapest launch cost to GEO right now is around $16,000 per kg. And that's on a Russian booster.