Spaceflight 🚀Sep 2, 2023

#LAtimes 📆 Sept. 4, 2022 "Two #asteroids in the belt between #Mars and #Jupiter 🪐 have more #iron, #nickel and #cobalt than exists on #Earth. Ultimately these products could be not only #mined ⛏️ but also #processed in #space, reducing #pollution of both the #air and #water on #Earth" https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-09-04/commercialization-space-earth

"Both #NEAs have surfaces with 85% #metal such as iron and nickel and 15% silicate material, which is basically #rock" https://news.arizona.edu/story/mini-psyches-give-insights-mysterious-metal-rich-near-earth-asteroids

Picture: #RASSOR on #Ceres https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prototype-d%27excavateur-de-la-NASA--RASSOR.jpg

#AsteroidMining #SpaceMining #SpaceRobot

Op-Ed: Can space save Earth?

Mankind faces many serious challenges in the decades ahead. The rapidly growing commercial space industry offers solutions.

Los Angeles Times
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Sep 24, 2023

#MiningTechnology 📆 September 13, 2023 The #economic potential of extracting raw #minerals from #space for use on Earth or for #InSpaceManufacturing is infinite. The #asteroid ☄️ database Asterank has estimated the resource values for asteroids tracked by #NASA. It claims that the ten closest and most cost-effective #asteroids to mine from #Earth contain around $1.5trn 💰 of natural #resources in today’s economy, which is equivalent to the current annual value of the entire global 🌍 #mining ⚒️ industry.
The current level of investment 💵 into #SpaceExploration and the potential exhaustion of Earth’s resources mean that #AsteroidMining is more of an inevitability than a possibility. https://www.mining-technology.com/comment/asteroid-mining-resource-rich-developing-economies/

#AsteroidMining

What asteroid mining will mean for resource-rich developing economies

The extraction of valuable minerals from our solar system is the most hotly contested aspect of the race to exploit space.

Mining Technology
Show threadMichael GemarOct 21, 2023

@spaceflight Until we can quantify the *massive* costs of extracting, processing, and returning these metals (in an environment where most existing mining equipment and processes wouldn’t work), no economic analysis makes sense.

I’m *very* dubious that *any* resource obtained off-Earth will ever be economical to use on Earth. (We may see space resource extraction used off-Earth, once we have significant off-Earth infrastructure.)

Show threadSpaceflight 🚀
@michaelgemar “The horse 🐎 is here to stay, but the automobile 🚗 is only a novelty” https://listverse.com/2019/05/14/10-quotes-from-experts-who-were-proved-wrong/
10 Quotes From Experts Who Were Proved Wrong - Listverse

The 20th century was a time of great technological advancement, replete with discoveries and inventions that changed the world. We moved from horse and

Listverse
Oct 21, 2023 at 2:59pmWeb
Show threadMichael GemarOct 21, 2023
@spaceflight “They laughed at Einstein…but they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” Handwaving away economics and physics is never very convincing.
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Oct 21, 2023
@michaelgemar just as general pessimism https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/pessimism
pessimism noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Definition of pessimism noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

Show threadMichael GemarOct 21, 2023
@spaceflight I agree, and I’m generally a space proponent, but there are very concrete, specific issues with making asteroid mining physically and financially possible. One can’t overcome them with simple optimism — they need solutions, or at least some indication that there *are* possible solutions.
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Oct 21, 2023
@michaelgemar just as for EVs https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E7QTssgXEAIkEBJ?format=jpg&name=large
Show threadMichael GemarOct 21, 2023
@spaceflight I guess the future will tell.