Yay! We're going Asteroid mining, boys!

lukep

lukep

He Hath Arisen
Sep 18, 2010
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Planetary Resources is the new name of a company founded by Peter Diamondis and some others back in 2010 to look into Asteroid mining commercially.

A couple of days ago they held the press conference where they announced the new name of the company and the tiny fact that they've got a green light and the funding is ready to begin work!

The investor list is quite impressive: Ross Perot, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, James Cameron etc... All invested. They are officially getting to work on phase one... Now!

Hours of the press conference is available on YT but it's boring. The BBC did a nice wrap up of it here:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXtl535po48]Planetary Resources Plans Asteroid Mining Mission - YouTube[/ame]

Inb4 advice to short-sell platinum funds....
 


lukep said:
90% of which is lost to governmental Bureaucracy.
Not to mention the fact that Google, Perot, Cameron and Diamondis might be able to come up with a Billion between them...


Apparently mining asteroids, but hey, it could be close.
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You're living in a dream world buddy. Please, come back to reality. If you knew how much went into the design and testing phases of building spacecrafts, you'd quickly recant your foolish words.
 
Sorry but something sounds awfully fishy about all this, can't put my finger on what. They clearly don't have the technology to do this.

It'd be the equivalent of an early 1900s company investing in the concept of "the internet". There's no infrastructure in place for something like this. Raises red flags in my book.
 
All you Naysayers will be quite surprised at what this "could" actually produce in about 10 to 20 years.

If I had the bankroll I'd be in on it for certain.

But, I'm so OLD now that I'd most likely be Dead before it turned a profit!!


Lulz
 
Asteroid mining is a bad idea, this little flying saucer comes out of nowhere and shoots your ship. We should instead be working on the technology that lets guys go up and down ladders and build giant burgers.
 
JCash said:
Asteroid mining is a bad idea, this little flying saucer comes out of nowhere and shoots your ship. We should instead be working on the technology that lets guys go up and down ladders and build giant burgers.
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WUT?

Mine an asteroid to depletion and it's one less earth bound missile to extinct our sorry asses!!


Flying saucers, we got "their" number back in the 50's!!

lol

Speaking of ladders, we should just tether a huge assed solar panel array to about 5 miles above the stratosphere with Woven Kevlar & a Stainless Steel/Titanium composite to solve our electricity problems!!
 
ChickenFucker said:
You're living in a dream world buddy. Please, come back to reality. If you knew how much went into the design and testing phases of building spacecrafts, you'd quickly recant your foolish words.
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No, I wouldn't. You are including the problem in your intended exclusion... SpaceX certainly didn't cost as much as the Mercury program.

Watch the film... Thier first stage stuff looks like very simple survey equipment so since these rocks are already coming so close...
 
ChickenFucker said:
You're living in a dream world buddy. Please, come back to reality. If you knew how much went into the design and testing phases of building spacecrafts, you'd quickly recant your foolish words.
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I don't know enough about space travel to make a valid judgement, but three things I do know:

1.) Space travel has advanced huge amounts over the decades. We're far better prepared than we were decades ago. Virgin Galatic is a good example of the technology advances since Mercury or Apollo.

2.) If you get a lineup like that behind a company, that company will make some waves. These people are all brilliant entrepreneurs, and they didn't become billionaires because they're stupid.

3.) We need to get into space. It's either that, or we go extinct as a species. Doesn't matter so much for our lifetimes (except rising costs of everything), but it will definitely matter in a few generations from now.
 
ChickenFucker said:
You're living in a dream world buddy. Please, come back to reality. If you knew how much went into the design and testing phases of building spacecrafts, you'd quickly recant your foolish words.
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Wrong. Asteroid mining is only mildly more complex than any terrestrial based mining operation. There only hard part is leaving orbit, and sustaining mining equipment. The logistical systems for actually doing the mining and controlling the mining craft are all already available.


Kiopa_Matt said:
3.) We need to get into space. It's either that, or we go extinct as a species. Doesn't matter so much for our lifetimes (except rising costs of everything), but it will definitely matter in a few generations from now.
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This. So. Much. This.


"Burn the land and boil the sea. You can't take the sky from me." :evil_laughter:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7vS4z6ngQo]Firefly Theme - YouTube[/ame]
 
Imagine enough mining to be done and brought in to Earth that it fucks up Earth's mass? I mean, I can't imagine how much that would take, but it's a little freaky to think about what could happen.

Damnit, I hate my mind, it loves to think outside the box. :)
 
ScottDaMan said:
Imagine enough mining to be done and brought in to Earth that it fucks up Earth's mass? I mean, I can't imagine how much that would take, but it's a little freaky to think about what could happen.

Damnit, I hate my mind, it loves to think outside the box. :)
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Well, to hell with asteroids, let's mine the Moon and cut it's mass down by like 1/3 and find out what happens to the Earth's tides.
 
The day they start bringing gold back from outer space, will be the day I no longer want to own gold.
 
You guys are totally stupid. If I actually felt like dumbing myself down I'd rip you new ones but I'm too sleepy.
 
monies said:
why don't they just use all that money to mine gold on earth...
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because its not about gold. ive considered not calling you stupid but heres the thing. if they bring lots of gold to earth, gold wouldnt be worth all that much anymore. what theyre looking for is rare earths, like neodym.
 
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