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How asteroid mining could add trillions to the world economy
Yahoo! News / The Week ^ | June 25, 2013 | John Aziz

Posted on 06/25/2013 7:02:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

An asteroid less than a mile in diameter could hold more than $20 trillion in industrial and precious metals

Resources on Earth are limited. Our planet was born with a fixed amount of water, hydrocarbons, nitrogen, and industrial and precious metals.

And we're collecting, processing, and eventually throwing out those resources at an alarming rate: A United Nations report on resource depletion says that between 1980 and 2008 natural resources per capita declined by 20 percent in the United States, 33 percent in South Africa, 25 percent in Brazil, and 17 percent in China.

For now, only protection and better resource management can safeguard the planet. As we burn through Earth's resources, a wealth of physical resources like metals, water, and hydrocarbons are floating around in asteroids, moons, and other planets, ready to be harvested. If human civilization is to continue to grow and expand over the centuries and millennia to come, hunger for resources is likely to drive us to explore and mine what's way, way out there.

And as wild as it may sound, asteroids in particular could be highly profitable. In 1997 scientists speculated that a relatively small metallic asteroid with a diameter of 0.99 miles contains more than $20 trillion worth of industrial and precious metals.....

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asteroids; catastrophism; economy; mining; space
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To: Sawdring
Good question. That number is a little slippery and is currently being debated. It's a lot, though.

/johnny

41 posted on 06/25/2013 7:54:28 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
"There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States." -- T. Craven, FCC Commissioner, 1961

He was a realist, too.

/johnny

42 posted on 06/25/2013 7:58:19 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Was the mass destroyed?


43 posted on 06/25/2013 7:59:09 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: a fool in paradise

If they want to be a little more efficient about the whole mining thing, they would just steer it towards Earth from the get go.

I am looking for investors.

My operating plan is to find a suitable Near Earth Asteroid... about 2000’ in diameter and install ion engines to steer it towards Earth...

Landfall would be on Washington D.C., whereupon mining forces would commence digging up the natural resources already located on this continent.

Oh, and we would go right ahead and build Keystone XL while we were at it.

Who’s in?


44 posted on 06/25/2013 7:59:47 PM PDT by Rodamala
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Isn’t the Earth’s core molten iron? Aren’t deep sea volcanoes depositing near industrial grade metals on the ocean floor?

Wouldn’t remote control deep sea mining gear be easier, safer and cheaper?


45 posted on 06/25/2013 8:08:54 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Hey RATs! Control your murdering freaks.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
You know, if George Bush had suggested this we'd still be hearing snarky comments about it.

But let such a stupid idea slip from Obama’s lips and his sycophants in the media are all agog.

46 posted on 06/25/2013 8:09:51 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Obama's Enemies List - Yes, you are a crook.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Oh no, the sky is falling, the sky is falling .... give me billions and I will keep it from falling .... I promise .... trust me based upon my past performance....


47 posted on 06/25/2013 8:12:48 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Drug abuse is not a victimless crime ... look at what Obama is doing to the country!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

From http://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/cgi-bin/crater.cgi?dist=30&distanceUnits=2&diam=1&diameterUnits=4&pdens=&pdens_select=8000&vel=30&velocityUnits=2&theta=90&tdens=1000&wdepth=100&wdepthUnits=2

Using the $20 trillion 1 mile diameter asteroid as an example, and we have a 4.87x10^6 Megaton TnT blast.

Your Inputs:
Distance from Impact: 48.30 km ( = 30.00 miles )
Projectile diameter: 1.61 km ( = 1.00 miles )
Projectile Density: 8000 kg/m3
Impact Velocity: 48.30 km per second ( = 30.00 miles per second )
Impact Angle: 90 degrees
Target Density: 1000 kg/m3
Target Type: Liquid water of depth 30.5 meters ( = 100.0 feet ), over crystalline rock.

Energy:
Energy before atmospheric entry: 2.04 x 1022 Joules = 4.87 x 106 MegaTons TNT
The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth during the last 4 billion years is 1.6 x 107years

Major Global Changes:
The Earth is not strongly disturbed by the impact and loses negligible mass.
The impact does not make a noticeable change in the tilt of Earth’s axis (< 5 hundreths of a degree).
The impact does not shift the Earth’s orbit noticeably.

Crater Dimensions:
What does this mean?

The crater opened in the water has a diameter of 60.2 km ( = 37.4 miles ).

For the crater formed in the seafloor:
Transient Crater Diameter: 36.8 km ( = 22.8 miles )
Transient Crater Depth: 13 km ( = 8.07 miles )

Final Crater Diameter: 59.1 km ( = 36.7 miles )
Final Crater Depth: 1.01 km ( = 0.627 miles )
The crater formed is a complex crater.
The volume of the target melted or vaporized is 180 km3 = 43.1 miles3
Roughly half the melt remains in the crater, where its average thickness is 169 meters ( = 555 feet ).

Thermal Radiation:
What does this mean?

Time for maximum radiation: 1.13 seconds after impact

Your position is inside the fireball.
The fireball appears 256 times larger than the sun
Thermal Exposure: 4.14 x 109 Joules/m2
Duration of Irradiation: 11.8 minutes
Radiant flux (relative to the sun): 5840

Effects of Thermal Radiation:

Clothing ignites

Much of the body suffers third degree burns

Newspaper ignites

Plywood flames

Deciduous trees ignite

Grass ignites

Seismic Effects:
What does this mean?

The major seismic shaking will arrive approximately 9.66 seconds after impact.
Richter Scale Magnitude: 9.1
Mercalli Scale Intensity at a distance of 48.3 km:

X. Most masonry and frame structures destroyed with their foundations. Some well-built wooden structures and bridges destroyed. Serious damage to dams, dikes, embankments. Large landslides. Water thrown on banks of canals, rivers, lakes, etc. Sand and mud shifted horizontally on beaches and flat land. Rails bent slightly.

XI. As X. Rails bent greatly. Underground pipelines completely out of service.

XII. As X. Damage nearly total. Large rock masses displaced. Lines of sight and level distorted. Objects thrown into the air.


48 posted on 06/25/2013 8:15:47 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

And we’ll all have flying cars, too. Just like the ones they promised us 50 years ago.
............
You’re right that 50 years ago, it was thought that the civilization would be much further along than it is today.

However, I buy the argument that the rate of technological change has been accelerating lately. That the technological changes we’ll see in the next—even 20 years will be much like the big technology changes of 1890-1910.


49 posted on 06/25/2013 8:17:11 PM PDT by ckilmer
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This doesnt sound practical.

Its like saying that the Sun has all the free energy we need but we just have to go and get it and bring it back.


50 posted on 06/25/2013 8:17:17 PM PDT by sickoflibs (To GOP : Any path to US citizenship IS putting them ahead in line. Stop lying about your position.)
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To: a fool in paradise
What happens when one of these nearby asteroids’ orbital path is affected by man’s influence and collides with the Earth?

Hmmm, that was my plan for getting the goods back to earth. Strap a rocket on the stone and point it towards Compton.

51 posted on 06/25/2013 8:23:56 PM PDT by randog (Tap into America!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
And we're collecting, processing, and eventually throwing out those resources at an alarming rate: A United Nations report on resource depletion says that between 1980 and 2008 natural resources per capita declined by 20 percent in the United States, 33 percent in South Africa, 25 percent in Brazil, and 17 percent in China.

Absolute BS! It's all still here on good old planet earth. Where do these idiots think they are "throwing out" the material to?!

Not only is this Malthusian nonsense, but it is multiplied by the idiocy that it would cost less to mine an asteroid. There may come a time when mining asteroids is profitable. But it will first be for materials used in off-earth endeavors. That will cost much less than trying to boost materials from earth.

And the only way mining asteroids will be profitable is if government stays out of it!

52 posted on 06/25/2013 8:30:10 PM PDT by DakotaGator (Weep for the lost Republic! And keep your powder dry!!)
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To: ckilmer
However, I buy the argument that the rate of technological change has been accelerating lately. That the technological changes we’ll see in the next—even 20 years will be much like the big technology changes of 1890-1910.

I disagree. Leftist ideology has so completely infected scientific thought today that I'm positive that the late 20th - early 21st century will someday be referred to as the Second Dark Ages.

53 posted on 06/25/2013 8:43:52 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Obama's Enemies List - Yes, you are a crook.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Will they be able to grow food out there?


54 posted on 06/25/2013 9:03:16 PM PDT by Mike Darancette (Fight the culture of nothing.)
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To: KevinDavis; 75thOVI; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; ...

Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.


55 posted on 06/25/2013 9:06:29 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (McCain or Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Don’t be silly. We have too many mouths to feed right here.


56 posted on 06/25/2013 9:08:28 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (I am a dissident. Will you join me? My name is John....)
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To: a fool in paradise
The trick is to control the collide, at least the coordinates. :-)

Twofers, mostly.

57 posted on 06/25/2013 9:13:44 PM PDT by going hot (Happiness is a momma deuce)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

OMG, they’re going to weight Gaya down and drown her. lmbo


58 posted on 06/25/2013 9:26:08 PM PDT by MaxMax (I'f you're not pissed off, you're not paying attention)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Since it will cost $30 trillion to mine $20 trillion in metals... sounds like something Obama would be interested in...


59 posted on 06/25/2013 9:55:55 PM PDT by moovova
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To: Blood of Tyrants

We can’t even get to low earth orbit by ourselves.


60 posted on 06/26/2013 3:19:50 AM PDT by hattend (Firearms and ammunition...the only growing industries under the Obama regime.)
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