Yay! We're going Asteroid mining, boys!

Unmanned robotic spaceflight is pretty cheap in comparison to manned. Cost of throwing up a satellite averages about US$50 million now days, compared to $500 million for a shuttle launch. Heavy lifters to get mining equipment to orbit might be more like $100 million. Upper stage booster to take it from orbit to the asteroid plus return mined materials would add another couple hundred million. The robotic mining equipment probably isn't very expensive. I would guess total cost to send up a single mining robot and return a batch to earth is probably around $500 million.

Must be some good stuff on those asteriods to make it worth the effort.
 


wayn3 said:
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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Yeah, you can mine other materials like platinum. There is this asteroid which has 8 trillion worth of platinum (http://mashable.com/2012/04/26/planetary-resources-asteroid-mining-trillions/). But you can mine gold as well, why not. We are talking about tons here and one ton of gold is worth about $50 million. I guess you could just take away chunks of asteroid in 1 ton pieces and just drop it from orbit. With today's technology you could make it fall in specific area where it wouldn't cause any damage (we are talking about chunks less than 1 meter (3 feet?) in width, if that).
 
"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][/QUOTE]

Oh Firefly, how I miss thee.
 
The cost per kg of sending a payload to orbit and beyond are well known. I don't know what the costs of returning a kg from an asteroid to earth would be. Seems like the payload would have to be very, very valuable. Sending back tons of gold doesn't sound profitable.
 
Also Gold and other precious metals are worth as much because they are rare on earth. Introducing a few tons from space into the market will start to push the price down.
 
I think several of you are being too narrow visioned as to what exactly this means. They're not doing this to just grab a bunch of gold, bring it back to earth, and sell it. I'm not on the board of directors, but I can safely say that's not the business plan.

Sure, one asteroid can contain more platinum than us humans have mined so far in history, so sure they'll grab it, bring it back, and sell it. Probably make a profit too. Another thing they'll do is mine water, and sell to the ISS, instead of trucking up water from earth. Nonetheless, none of that matters.

They're looking to become pioneers. Same as Henry Ford invented the first car, and changed the world. Same as how nowadays, we all rely on companies like Exxon, Shell, BP, etc... to keep the energy flowing. They want to be the Exxon of outer space. They want to be the first ones out there, so they profit off every future endeavour made into space.

Us humans are going into space. Most of us will probably either be dead or grandparents by then, but it is going to happen. They want to be the first, and monopolize on it. And a team like that has the wealth and resources to do so. On top of that, guaranteed, this project will attract some of the world's top talent. You can expect the most skilled and innovative minds in the world to be working on this project.
 
This is real shit, I'm so happy to be alive. Perhaps that's what the asteroid belt is ... comets lassoed in by previous cultures so we have supply of everything regardless what stage of the ellipse we're in.

And Firefly FTW

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYeqDD96gLg"]Firefly Clip: Big Damn Heroes - YouTube[/ame]
 
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geomark said:
The cost per kg of sending a payload to orbit and beyond are well known. I don't know what the costs of returning a kg from an asteroid to earth would be. Seems like the payload would have to be very, very valuable. Sending back tons of gold doesn't sound profitable.
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Rhodium is worth $85k a kilo. That'd easily cover the current cost of sending a payload into space. There's always the possibility of a space elevator, though, which'd reduce costs by a shitload.
 
fixie said:
Yeah, you can mine other materials like platinum. There is this asteroid which has 8 trillion worth of platinum (http://mashable.com/2012/04/26/planetary-resources-asteroid-mining-trillions/). But you can mine gold as well, why not. We are talking about tons here and one ton of gold is worth about $50 million. I guess you could just take away chunks of asteroid in 1 ton pieces and just drop it from orbit. With today's technology you could make it fall in specific area where it wouldn't cause any damage (we are talking about chunks less than 1 meter (3 feet?) in width, if that).
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8 trillion in earth money due to lack of availability.
 
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geomark said:
The cost per kg of sending a payload to orbit and beyond are well known. I don't know what the costs of returning a kg from an asteroid to earth would be. Seems like the payload would have to be very, very valuable. Sending back tons of gold doesn't sound profitable.
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They have identified asteroids with $80 trillion worth of platinum and iridium. Even when the costs of platinum and iridium plummet that will be a very very big payload.

Definitely won't be easy for them to accomplish but I think a company (them or another company) will be bringing back minerals from asteroids within the next 20 years.
 
At :47 into the OP video, they show a mockup of a bag capturing an asteroid.

Since the cost of extracting the components in orbit will likely be a bit more expensive than doing it down here, perhaps the bag is to protect the rock during atmospheric entry as it is being guided down to a 'landing field' where it can then be mined terrestrially.

@erect: I agree, get his edumacated ass in here!
 
I do remember "peak platinum" being a potential issue as it's used in so many electronic and I guess superconductor-related applications and there's no good substitute for the stuff so sending Jimmy Neutron out there to lasso a platinum asteroid and rassle it earthwards probably has a real appeal to people like Ross Perot who cotton to business ventures that thumb their nose at them longhair laws of physics.
 
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lukep said:
At :47 into the OP video, they show a mockup of a bag capturing an asteroid.

Since the cost of extracting the components in orbit will likely be a bit more expensive than doing it down here, perhaps the bag is to protect the rock during atmospheric entry as it is being guided down to a 'landing field' where it can then be mined terrestrially.

@erect: I agree, get his edumacated ass in here!
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The most effective (known to me) method is to capture and then mine it on the moon.
 
SkyFire said:
The most effective (known to me) method is to capture and then mine it on the moon.
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Makes no sense to try to land an asterioid on the moon without having it break up or implant into the surface, then lift the mined payload off the moon and land it on earth. Much lower energy cost to launch the mined payload directly from the asteroid back to earth.
 
Oooh; CNET breaks down the details of the three phases better here near the end:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExFBKtkEO8c]Planetary Resources' plan to mine asteroids - YouTube[/ame]



...Bringing a whole new definition to the term "the 1%." :thumbsup:

So anyway, since they stated that their funding is go to start building now, that means that they are currently building the swarm of prospecting satellites.
 
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