Comment on Space is starting to look like the better mining operation
Geek_King@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I’m so intrigued by the prospect of mining asteroids! The amounts of metals and other resources, including rarer things like platinum family metals is incredible. There are some serious challenges that would need to be overcome, but the first country or company which pulls it off would open the doors to a future where we don’t need to rip up earth to obtain all the rare stuff we need for high tech industry. And with huge amounts of asteroids being in the belts in our solar system, a practically inexhaustible supply too.
echo64@lemmy.world 11 months ago
This is a lot of exciting words to say “instead of digging up the effectively limitless amount of rock under our feet we can go into space to do it in the least efficient and most expensive way”
It’s very cool, but I would rather we spend our time and resources on more pressing things, given we have the rocks right here.
vmaziman@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I would agree if mining the rocks on earth didn’t cause ecological collapses and kill off animals and displace indigenous and exploit underprivileged ethnic classes in post colonial hellholes
vmaziman@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I’m sure mining in space will have its own problems but at least it can’t kill our biosphere
schmidtster@lemmy.world 11 months ago
There’s been studies that have found metal particles in the atmosphere, so anything entering and exiting are seemingly shedding particles.
So it’s likely to cause issues down the road unfortunately.
FaceDeer@kbin.social 11 months ago
If it's truly the "least efficient and most expensive way" of mining then you have no reason to be the slightest bit worried, it won't get done in that case. Obviously.
echo64@lemmy.world 11 months ago
This is true, but you’ll also see a lot of investment scams by internet famous people, like funding a space company on the lies of Mars colonies
photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
900 tons to orbit just this year isnt a scam.
lolcatnip@reddthat.com 11 months ago
Rocks ≠ ore. There are numerous materials (e.g. lithium) for the total known deposits on Earth won’t cover more than a few decades’ worth of projected demand, and even then, the mining process is an environmental disaster. Asteroid mining is a long-term project that will require huge advances in multiple fields, but it addresses a real need.
qyron@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
I can imagine a sort of a conveyor belt made of miniature cargo vessel with one robotized mining station at one end, cutting away an asteroid piece by piece, and a cargo dock at the Earth side.
With enough cargo vessels deployed, let’s say one would arrive at each end everyother day, the moment the conveyor belt was full, the mining operation would be swift.
Assuming a global deal between nations could be struck to have a refinery or at least a cargo dock placed on the moon, to organize large cargos to come to Earth at programmed intervals, it could prove to be a very interesting endeavour.
Raw matterials price could drop, given the sheer available volume.
At least it sounds like a diferent sci-fi plot
echo64@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You could do that on earth
qyron@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
Which part?