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NASA to explore space rock worth so much money it would DESTROY world economy
Daily Star ^ | 16th January 2017 | Peter Truman

Posted on 01/16/2017 4:24:39 PM PST by COBOL2Java

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To: COBOL2Java

The apocalyptic economic claims about the asteroid are the height of stupidity.

The “wealth” contained in the asteroid would, if it could be exploited, take probably more than a century to be gradually obtained and made use of, and thus making only a small annual contribution to the global economy.


121 posted on 01/17/2017 7:29:38 AM PST by Wuli
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To: dr_lew
Wow.... Pretty much wrong across the board.

Yes, there are plans for basing a lot of the "space mining" effort on the Moon. It's a natural jump off point for the rest of the Solar system. Part of the problem with going back to the Moon is a lack of political will to do so via our GOVERNMENT run NASA. Now that private individuals are stepping up to the plate, this will change. We already have our first Private Astronaut. More will follow.

Apples and parakeets on the Space X booster. The booster and it's recovery vehicle are mission purposed to be a reusable SSTO vehicle and nothing more. It isn't DESIGNED to go to the Moon.

Shawyer's drive is a lot more than fantasy. Even China's open ended drive currently in orbit is giving results. Cannea's superconducting drives in vacuum testing produce more thrust than Hall effect and photonic thrusters at a fraction of the energy cost.

My opinion is the naysayers shouldn't interrupt those people who are currently DOING the very things they say are impossible.

122 posted on 01/17/2017 7:41:45 AM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: Sasparilla

At 230 plus kilometers in diameter (143 miles) that would make it an Earth Killer.

The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was only 7 miles in diameter.


123 posted on 01/17/2017 7:45:45 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Keep fighting the Left and their Fake News!)
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To: from occupied ga
Why this insistence on using the Apollo program as your measuring stick? It isn't 1967 any more. Technology has changed a lot. We have have many more options for just getting out to an interesting prospect than sending a chemical rocket with a human crew to go fetch it.

What if you could send a swarm of small "thruster bots" out to attach to an asteroid and push it into an Earth/Moon L point for harvesting and that you could do this for just a few million dollars? At a return of investment 1:1000.

124 posted on 01/17/2017 7:48:19 AM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: Dead Corpse
Why this insistence on using the Apollo program as your measuring stick?

Because the technology to get in space is exactly the same as it was in 1967 - primarily liquid fuel rockets with the occasional use of solid fuel boosters. Strictly Newton conservation of momentum is the only thing that gets you off the planet. Gravitational assist PLUS NEWTON is what gets you further out than Mars. Cassini a ONE WAY Saturn probe cost $5,000,000,000 in today's dollars You come up with a quantitative measure of how much it will cost - not some BS you concoct out of air and wishfull thinking. and remember you will need to get sufficient propellant to brake at the asteroid and to break out of solar orbit and return to earth.

The problem with space enthusiasts is that they NEVER figure out how much something will cost - THey read too much science fiction and confuse it with facts

125 posted on 01/17/2017 8:41:50 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: Alas Babylon!

Try this in an impact on Earth of the Psyche asteroid:

http://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEffects/


126 posted on 01/17/2017 9:05:47 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Keep fighting the Left and their Fake News!)
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To: from occupied ga
Again, you are making the case FOR private enterprise doing this. NASA cannot, will not, and is fundamentally incapable of doing things cheaply.

Running around saying it is "too expensive therefore can never be done" is exactly like saying Usain Bolt can't be as fast as he is because you can't sprint that fast with a beer keg strapped to your back.

Breaking $1k/lbs barrier

Comparison of orbital launch systems on Wiki

127 posted on 01/17/2017 9:08:53 AM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: from occupied ga
Again, you are making the case FOR private enterprise doing this. NASA cannot, will not, and is fundamentally incapable of doing things cheaply.

Running around saying it is "too expensive therefore can never be done" is exactly like saying Usain Bolt can't be as fast as he is because you can't sprint that fast with a beer keg strapped to your back.

Breaking $1k/lbs barrier

Comparison of orbital launch systems on Wiki

128 posted on 01/17/2017 9:08:55 AM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: Dead Corpse

It’s not in earth orbit. Which you are well aware. It’s between Mars and Jupiter. I gave a reasonable cost structure based on FACTS. Do they same to support your viewpoint and we can continue this discussion


129 posted on 01/17/2017 9:37:05 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: from occupied ga
Again, you fail to take into account new technologies. You are very correct that if we used current solid/liquid heavy boosters to try to get first to orbit, and then out to the Belt... It'd be fantastically expensive and risky. I'm not debating that at all... In fact, I even posted two different links talking about cost/pound of getting things from ground to orbit and a comparison of existing boosters.

BUT... COMMA...

However, you are completely dismissing the promise of new technology that is now being tested both in labs on Earth and in orbit. Coupled with PRIVATE companies speculating on $2Q in potential returns? You'd have to be a complete Luddite lunatic to think they won't find a way...

DIY testers are currently building their own EM drive test rigs for around $10k. These units produce enough Newtons in thrust to out perform photon rockets and ion drives. Couple that with the fact that robotic mining probes aren't going to need a full science package like Cassini, won't have the fuel costs associated with other probes/missions, etc... The costs aren't nearly what you are portraying them as.

130 posted on 01/17/2017 11:29:40 AM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: Dead Corpse

New space drive technologies remind me of the promise of fusion power - always just 10 years away. I remember reading about ion propulsion 40 years ago and it was just around the corner then. If it’s proven to work then OK otherwise it’s just science fiction.


131 posted on 01/17/2017 1:45:56 PM PST by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: COBOL2Java
NASA to explore space rock worth so much money it would DESTROY world economy....

especially it if impacts the surface.

132 posted on 01/17/2017 6:16:43 PM PST by Oztrich Boy (I never ever set out to make anyone feel safe. - S E Hinton)
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To: Oztrich Boy
NASA to explore space rock worth so much money it would DESTROY world economy....

especially it if impacts the surface.


133 posted on 01/17/2017 6:24:46 PM PST by COBOL2Java (1 Tim 2:1-3)
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To: Dead Corpse
Running around saying it is "too expensive therefore can never be done" is exactly like saying Usain Bolt can't be as fast as he is because you can't sprint that fast with a beer keg strapped to your back.

I think it's more like saying Usain Bolt will never break the sound barrier.

134 posted on 01/18/2017 4:01:40 PM PST by dr_lew (I)
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To: hadaclueonce

Imagine the price of doing the prerequisite environmental impact study... :-)


135 posted on 01/13/2018 12:49:12 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Note: this topic is from 01/16/2017. Thanks COBOL2Java.

136 posted on 04/06/2020 2:28:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I say we claim it, bring it here and use the gold to buy out the entire world......................


137 posted on 04/06/2020 2:31:28 PM PDT by Red Badger (Always trust God............but wash your hands......................)
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