Oh really!? Duh! So could mining the ocean floor at 35,000+ feet. Just some minor obstacles to overcome at a gazzillion dollars. I hope this didn’t come from a leading US scientific magazine.
Opening up the mining on the North Slope and those coal areas out west that Clinton turned into National Monuments would be an even easier place to start.
Teams of humans live and work in space. We haven’t sent humans to the depths of the oceans yet. Plus it’s just not as glamorous.