Gilgamesh18 said:

Has anyone heard about that new company Planetary Resources? Apparently they have an ambitious scheme to mine the asteroids for valuable minerals and water. They also appear to have some serious funding from several notable tech billionaires. Honestly I think this is one of the greatest things that could have happened. I am glad some people have realized that taking mining off world will reduce pollution and save the earth environment.

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I think the secondary mission of setting up fuel stations is interesting...  Opens up the opportunity for expanded future missions.  That said, the initial mining operation could prove extremely useful.  It's known from impact craters on Earth, the Moon, and Mars that there are some valuable resources in much higher concentrations on meteors/asteroids than occur in the Earth's crust.  Opening up the option for expanded use of some very useful elements could do wonders for a lot of scientific research that is currently made relatively limited by the high cost of some such elements

HeavyToilet said:

If you want a laugh, go to 23:30 and then listen to this guy's spiel about water being the most efficient form of rocket fuel.

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420Experience said:

Gilgamesh18 said:

Has anyone heard about that new company Planetary Resources? Apparently they have an ambitious scheme to mine the asteroids for valuable minerals and water. They also appear to have some serious funding from several notable tech billionaires. Honestly I think this is one of the greatest things that could have happened. I am glad some people have realized that taking mining off world will reduce pollution and save the earth environment.

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I think the secondary mission of setting up fuel stations is interesting...  Opens up the opportunity for expanded future missions.  That said, the initial mining operation could prove extremely useful.  It's known from impact craters on Earth, the Moon, and Mars that there are some valuable resources in much higher concentrations on meteors/asteroids than occur in the Earth's crust.  Opening up the option for expanded use of some very useful elements could do wonders for a lot of scientific research that is currently made relatively limited by the high cost of some such elements

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