[from occupied ga]

what leads you to believe that you could process metals from a lump of rock? Pick any 30 foot lump of rock randomly on earth and see just what you can get from it. Asteroids are rocks, not chunks of metal waiting to be processed

What good is a spece station- economically speaking? (BTW that does have an answer, just not one that most people think of)

[Errant]

Well, I was wrong on the nickel content. Seems they've found some metorites that are 30% nickel. Metorites are asteroids from space.

About two-thirds of all known meteorites contain iron-nickel (FeNi) metal.

[Freeport]

Asteroids are rocks, not chunks of metal waiting to be processed

Er no... There are lots of iron meteors out there. Here are a few that have impacted the earth:

(g)EUlogy to geology

Largest iron meteorites found on Earth not have craters?

Ambassador Greg Shanos and iron meteorite at McDonald Observatory.

[bolobaby]

Asteroids are not all simple rocks, as spectrum analysis has revealed. Some have high concentrations of iron.

http://www.universetoday.com/37425/what-are-asteroids-made-of/

...and...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_asteroids_made_of

My guess is that scientists are going after the metallic asteroids and NOT the rocky ones. I mean, duh! Right?

Next up is the economic benefit of a space station, which I will answer in the simplest, most abstract fashion possible:

Historically speaking, few things enrich a country more than exploration (The New World, Manifest Destiny, etc). OK, “war” is up there, too, but exploration is pretty high on the list. There is *a lot* to explore out there if we can do it in an economically viable fashion.

(I’m not even going to go into the scientific advancements that can enrich a country from a healthy space program.)

[treetopsandroofs]

Metaluna needs these resources!