Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There is another asteroid further out that has an estimated $95.8 Trillion in precious metals.
Of course those are at current prices, which fluctuate and could drop if the market is shocked with a massive supply.
Right now it isn't cost effective to mine them in terms of the cost of going up and then what they can bring back. However, there are some experts predicting that that will change soon.
There are multiple entities exploring asteroid mining, including Planetary Resources - which doesn't offer public stock yet, but has some big money behind it.
"If" they become successful in asteroid mining and even talk of dropping asteroid chunks to select locations - could we see the drop of precious metals vis supply and demand? Supply vs Demand and precious metals could become oversupplied.
What do you all think about the long-term viability of precious metals if asteroid mining becomes a reality? Would it not lose its value as an inflation hedge?
It would depend on the cost of extracting the precious metals. There's lots of gold dissolved in the ocean, but the value of the energy required to extract it from the water using known methods is higher than the value of the gold.
I suspect the greatest value from asteroid mining will be water, specifically the fact that it doesn't have to be lifted into orbit. It can be used as fuel, and also as a radiation shield for long duration missions.
Difficult, but not impossible to get asteroid material back to earth.
In fact, if they don't mind losing about half of the payload, they can simply drop it by itself and still expect to salvage half of it.
Keep in mind, many things were once considered impossible that today are mundane. Science and engineering expand exponentially.
You are correct, but seeing this become mundane in our lifetimes, doesn't seem likely.
All that "stuff" on the asteroid doesn't have much value to humanity compared to the cost of going to get it and haul it back to Earth.
Remember that it has to be scraped off the asteroid. Once it is in manageable chunks, it takes energy to move it back to earth. That's move it back over 50 million miles. Getting that energy _TO_ the asteroid is a monumental task.
Remember that the "stuff" both has to be launched _TO_ Earth and then it has to be captured near Earth ( decelerated with a lot more energy ) so that it can be brought down to the surface.
The idea that any asteroid is rich with stuff like
is also just conjecture until humanity actually lands something on an asteroid and confirms this.
There is no reason to assume that the makeup of asteroids is much different than the makeup of the Earth. If they were rich with gold and stuff then the meteors that have fallen to Earth would sometimes be treasure stones. Alas the best that has been found is high quality iron alloy.
There is a reason that "heavy" elements with lots of protons and neutrons are rare and it has to do with the physics of nuclear fusion of stuff like C and O into stuff like Fe. Stars tend to die once they start making Iron. That's a puny atom compared to a Platinum metal.
Once there are functional bases on the moon and regular trips to Mars, we might see asteroid mining, but, at best, that's 50 years out.
The idea of dropping huge metal boulders on to the Earth probably gives lawyers wet dreams.
You are correct, but seeing this become mundane in our lifetimes, doesn't seem likely.
All that "stuff" on the asteroid doesn't have much value to humanity compared to the cost of going to get it and haul it back to Earth.
Remember that it has to be scraped off the asteroid. Once it is in manageable chunks, it takes energy to move it back to earth. That's move it back over 50 million miles. Getting that energy _TO_ the asteroid is a monumental task.
Remember that the "stuff" both has to be launched _TO_ Earth and then it has to be captured near Earth ( decelerated with a lot more energy ) so that it can be brought down to the surface.
The idea that any asteroid is rich with stuff like is also just conjecture until humanity actually lands something on an asteroid and confirms this.
There is no reason to assume that the makeup of asteroids is much different than the makeup of the Earth. If they were rich with gold and stuff then the meteors that have fallen to Earth would sometimes be treasure stones. Alas the best that has been found is high quality iron alloy.
There is a reason that "heavy" elements with lots of protons and neutrons are rare and it has to do with the physics of nuclear fusion of stuff like C and O into stuff like Fe. Stars tend to die once they start making Iron. That's a puny atom compared to a Platinum metal.
Once there are functional bases on the moon and regular trips to Mars, we might see asteroid mining, but, at best, that's 50 years out.
The idea of dropping huge metal boulders on to the Earth probably gives lawyers wet dreams.
Maybe you are right. However, there are scientists at NASA that think you are wrong. They claim that they can accurately tell what the composition of asteroids are from studying how the light reflects off of it.
They can pinpoint key asteroids to target and a NASA study theorized that at current prices (which would no doubt drop) there are enough precious metals in asteroids near earth to give $100 Billion to each human alive. Keep in mind we sent men to the moon, which is much farther away. We have sent machines to mars and beyond. NASA believes that fuel can also be produced from asteroids in outer space for a return flight.
NASA hopes to move an asteroid into position by 2021 so astronauts can take samples from it back to earth.
Luxemburg will spend $227 Million on investigating asteroid mining.
Time will tell if technology can continue to accelerate and make this a reality.
OP, I agree that some form of asteroid mining will occur in the future. 10 years? 25 years? 50 years? Within 50, I would guess.
One of the reasons I believe the timeline is hard to predict: asteroids are far away...
Quote:
Originally Posted by michiganmoon
They can pinpoint key asteroids to target and a NASA study theorized that at current prices (which would no doubt drop) there are enough precious metals in asteroids near earth to give $100 Billion to each human alive. Keep in mind we sent men to the moon, which is much farther away. We have sent machines to mars and beyond. NASA believes that fuel can also be produced from asteroids in outer space for a return flight.
Tiania
...
lots more. .... I don't think those non-Earth moons were what was being referenced.
We've landed flimsy satelites on asteroids and comets ( at great expense), They're pretty neat tricks. One mission is supposed to bring some material back. That's a neat trick too.
Suppose we develop technology good enough to actually bring "usable" amounts of "stuff" back .... how do we ensure that there is nothing in the "bucket" that could contaminate the earth?
Asteroid mining - neat idea - not really useful.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
