Mystery company may be an asteroid mining project

[Casper]

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/18/2957585/planetary-resources-space-exploration-company-james-cameron-google

If you want to add some conspiracy to it: http://www.themarslanding.info/

[kawi kid]

Interesting read

[ReconRat]

Some one will mine asteroids eventually, it's only a matter of time. Here's why. No gravity well, so fuel usage is a minimum. Everything you'll need is already there, except organics. Anything returned to a planet, is all downhill, that usable gravity well works for you. Profit.

Here's an example, what if aliens visited our solar system? Would they bother going down to a planet? Not likely, everything they'd want is floating around in space and easy to get to, in the asteroid belt. Except those pesky biological items, which is the only reason to visit the surface of a planet.

That second link, is so full of weird errors, it's total fantasy. But rumors of visits to Mars are wide spread.

[kawi kid]

Here is a question. Would bringing minerals back here effect the earths orbit? Essentially you are making r earth heavier by returning with extra payloads.

[ReconRat]

Here is a question. Would bringing minerals back here effect the earths orbit? Essentially you are making r earth heavier by returning with extra payloads.

Yes, but you'd have to move an extreme amount of stuff to even see a small effect.

The water and air lost to space is probably a vastly larger amount by weight.

[kawi kid]

I didn't figure it would be by one or two loads but after years and years of it I thought it might have some effect.

Is this on the stone peoples calendar too? Lol

[ReconRat]

Asteroid mining how-to-do:

http://www.permanent.com/a-mining.htm

http://chview.nova.org/station/ast-mine.htm

http://miningasteroids.com/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/401227.stm

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201328194/offshoreinformat

I should point out that if some one wanted to build a big space station (as they want for space tourism), the cheap way to do that is make the parts out in the asteroid belt and send them back to Earth orbit to be assembled. Shipping them up to orbit on a rocket costs too much.

Edited April 20, 2012 by ReconRat