Industrial Space Age

[Neferti]

Industrial space age: Companies looking to cash in on mining asteroids

The mining boom on Earth may be over, but in space it could be set to soar, with exploration companies looking to launch expeditions to asteroids in just a few years.

NASA has already sent several missions to explore asteroids and just this month it announced it would fast track a mission to 16 Psyche, an asteroid made almost entirely of nickel-iron.

Last year, the Government of Luxemburg launched a $370-million initiative to become the world centre for space resources and is hoping to attract commercial partners.

Washington-based start-up Planetary Resources has already received funding from the tiny country, and CEO and founder Chris Lewicki told Lateline that potential for mining asteroids is almost infinite.

"If we took all the asteroids that are in the solar system and extracted the metal from them, we could build a skyscraper on Earth that's 8,000 kilometres tall and would cover the entire surface of the Earth," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-30/a ... ge/8572250

[Super Nova]

Wow.

I think this will never be a reality unless we discover a source of energy that would be nearly free. The energy requirements to get there, mine and return raw materials would be huge.

[Neferti]

Wow.

I think this will never be a reality unless we discover a source of energy that would be nearly free. The energy requirements to get there, mine and return raw materials would be huge.

My ex-former-late husband, David, was into all this. He read science fiction books since he was about 8 years old. He was highly intelligent and had a photographic memory. His flaw was (apart from the transvestite business, which he told me about and I ignored ... I never observed it) WAS his idea that he could CONTROL ME and when I told him to STFU he used his fists, not his brain. Stupid, stupid man.

MEANWHILE ........ back to Astro Energy or whatever...

[Super Nova]

Umm,

I love SciFi, started with comics from 8. Wore a dress once for fancy dress. Haven''t used my fists on a woman. Not too smart. Don't remember yesterday.

[Neferti]

Umm,

I love SciFi, started with comics from 8. Wore a dress once for fancy dress. Haven''t used my fists on a woman. Not too smart. Don't remember yesterday.

Yes, I know. My daughter and grandkids are also into Sci Fi .... futuristic isn't my thing, apparently.

I am a realist not an idealist.

[Super Nova]

But todays fantasies become tomorrow's realities.

Without those that dream big things we would not progress in big ways.

[Neferti]

But todays fantasies become tomorrow's realities.

Without those that dream big things we would not progress in big ways.

Undoubtedly. However, my feet are firmly in NOW ....

We are born, we live, then we die.

I do NOT believe in an afterlife, (or God) why would I believe that there are "aliens" or other civilizations out there?

[Black Orchid]

You really think our pathetic bunch on Earth are IT?

[Super Nova]

I do NOT believe in an afterlife, (or God) why would I believe that there are "aliens" or other civilizations out there?

I also do not believe in an afterlife or a god.

Everything that has a beginning has an end. There is no spirit. We are just complex organisms that evolved from a rare chemical reaction that was able to replicate the process. Sad but true.

I am starting to believe that advanced life forming advanced civilizations is very very rare. I think this because we have not detected a single unnatural emission scanning the universe for some time. Nature leaves gaps in the electromagnetic spectrum that we use to for our communications. I would expect others to do the same. However the universe is vast and the accident that occurred here on Earth mathematically should have occurred before and should occur again. I believe other life exists but the chance of them evolving to be a technological civilization I think is much lower than we think.

[Black Orchid]

With an estimated 200 billion galaxies in our universe and God knows how many universes out there with their own billions of galaxies I really think it is arrogant thinking that we are the most advanced there is.