James Cameron plans to mine asteroids

[icarus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17827347

The multi-million-dollar plan would use robotic spacecraft to squeeze chemical components of fuel and minerals such as platinum and gold out of the rocks.

The founders include film director and explorer James Cameron as well as Google's chief executive Larry Page and its executive chairman Eric Schmidt.

They even aim to create a fuel depot in space by 2020.

Could this ever be economically viable? Might as well huck some waste from Earth into the sun while we're up there.

[TurnedTheCorner]

James Cameron's willingness to rape the natural world for unobtanium knows no bounds apparently.

[Bigtime]

James Cameron will change his last name to either Weyland or Yutani, just you wait and see.

[photon]

Originally Posted by icarus

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17827347

Could this ever be economically viable? Might as well huck some waste from Earth into the sun while we're up there.

The amount of resources in a single asteroid is enormous, especially if you pick the right asteroid.

However there's a couple of problems that I can think of, the most obvious one being mining... every method we use has been developed over a looong time and with gravity and atmosphere. Mining in microgravity with no atmosphere is so different, I mean you can't even use the same tools because metals will weld to each other in a vacuum (for example).

So there's a lot of work to do just to be able to mine the resources.

And the other thing is if you all of a sudden bring as much platinum into the world market as there already is platinum in the world market, the price isn't going to stay the same.

[HPLovecraft]

Multi-million dollar plan is an understatement.

[Bigtime]

Here is another article on this:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...hey-can-do-it/

I wonder if something like this will naturally lead to the first ever space elevator being built?

[GGG]

I think there is more benefit to a re-fueling / supply station for inter-planetary trips. The cost to carry fuel out of orbit is prohibitively expensive. So if you could do all of that in space and there was common space flights that required refueling or a moon base that needed materials than possibly it might work.

However I think that shipping the rare earth metals back down to earth would require very high metal prices to me profitable.

[CaptainCrunch]

James Cameron just wants to be that cool guy with a bunch of money throwing things around. Its great that he did the submarine thing. But I would expect that the cost of developing space based mining would cost into the trillions of dollars, and you would warp the world market for precious metals if you ever figured it out to the point where you would never get your investment back.

Beyond that, the whole fuel depot in space, shouldn't the goal be to get away from using heavy volatile toxic fuels to get into space, there has to be more research into non conventional systems, like nuclear and Ion and pulse engines.

We should be focusing on more efficent long lasting clean propulsion, we should be looking into the abilitiy to assemble space craft in orbit to get around the difficulties of gravity.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

James Cameron just wants to be that cool guy with a bunch of money throwing things around. Its great that he did the submarine thing. But I would expect that the cost of developing space based mining would cost into the trillions of dollars, and you would warp the world market for precious metals if you ever figured it out to the point where you would never get your investment back.

Beyond that, the whole fuel depot in space, shouldn't the goal be to get away from using heavy volatile toxic fuels to get into space, there has to be more research into non conventional systems, like nuclear and Ion and pulse engines.

We should be focusing on more efficent long lasting clean propulsion, we should be looking into the abilitiy to assemble space craft in orbit to get around the difficulties of gravity.

Bring asteroid into earth or moon orbit, set up factories on it, make spacecraft right there.

It appears that this group has more than just the backing of Cameron, there appears to be quite a few billionaires from the internet world (google) behind them too, plus a solid group of former NASA folks that have a pretty good track record.

[Hack&Lube]

I just thought up the plot of his new movie. A mining company tries to save money by crashing an asteroid into the earth so they can mine it terrestrially and something goes horribly wrong...

Actually, that's a horrible idea because it would break up in the atmosphere and many of the valuable materials you want to mine would be burned up.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I just thought up the plot of his new movie. A mining company tries to save money by crashing an asteroid into the earth so they can mine it terrestrially and something goes horribly wrong...

Actually, that's a horrible idea because it would break up in the atmosphere and many of the valuable materials you want to mine would be burned up.

Crash it into the moon instead, but then something still goes wrong and the axial wobble and ocean currents of the earth are all thrown off kilter leading to climatic cataclysm. Then a cyborg gets sent into the past to change the future. Blockbuster guaranteed, funding further asteroid mining research.

[Bigtime]

Another article:

http://io9.com/5904599/its-official-...ce=twitterfeed

• In the next 18—24 months, the first in a series of Arkyd-class telescopes is launched to begin the search for mining prospects.
• According to Planetary Resources' president and chief engineer, Chris Lewicki: "three, four, five years out, depending on trajectory, is when we envision getting up close and personal with an asteroid."
• SPACE.com is reporting that Anderson declined to estimate when Planetary Resources would actually begin extracting resources from asteroids, but according to the Associated Press, "one of the company founders [unnamed] predicts they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020," and a recent study, sponsored by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (and co-authored by two members of Planetary Resources, including Lewicki), estimates that a 500-ton near-Earth asteroid could be coaxed into the Moon's orbit and mined for resources by 2025.

[freedogger]

Maybe figuring out a way to get bad crap off the planet should be done first? Like the hundreds of at capacity spent nuclear fuel pools. Start with #4 at fukushima please.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by icarus

Crash it into the moon instead, but then something still goes wrong and the axial wobble and ocean currents of the earth are all thrown off kilter leading to climatic cataclysm. Then a cyborg gets sent into the past to change the future. Blockbuster guaranteed, funding further asteroid mining research.

I like where your going with this, but in order to really push it to the blockbuster arena the Cyborg has to be a sexy chick with massive cans, we can have her going into the past to kill James Cameron before he makes Titanic and have her sent by angry guys everywhere who even hundreds of years into the future are subjected to multiple viewings of that movie by their significan others.

We also need a boat in the movie somewhere.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by freedogger

Maybe figuring out a way to get bad crap off the planet should be done first? Like the hundreds of at capacity spent nuclear fuel pools. Start with #4 at fukushima please.

Ideally sending these materials by rocket into the sun seems to be the classic sci-fi solution but the danger of a mis-launch or loss of payload in the air or atmosphere of nuclear waste is probably one of the worst things that could happen.

Space elevator that s***

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I like where your going with this, but in order to really push it to the blockbuster arena the Cyborg has to be a sexy chick with massive cans, we can have her going into the past to kill James Cameron before he makes Titanic and have her sent by angry guys everywhere who even hundreds of years into the future are subjected to multiple viewings of that movie by their significan others.

We also need a boat in the movie somewhere.

And at the end, James Cameron makes a PSA ad slagging the oil sands.

"And knowing is half the battle... GI JOE!"

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by freedogger

Maybe figuring out a way to get bad crap off the planet should be done first? Like the hundreds of at capacity spent nuclear fuel pools. Start with #4 at fukushima please.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by freedogger

Maybe figuring out a way to get bad crap off the planet should be done first? Like the hundreds of at capacity spent nuclear fuel pools. Start with #4 at fukushima please.

Anyone remember Gerald Bull and his project Babylon super gun that was designed to fire satellites into orbit.

It would sure get around some of the issues, not really in waste disposal, but in sending supplies and materials into low orbit to be picked up by the international space station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Anyone remember Gerald Bull and his project Babylon super gun that was designed to fire satellites into orbit.

It would sure get around some of the issues, not really in waste disposal, but in sending supplies and materials into low orbit to be picked up by the international space station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull

Is this the same guy that built the super gun for Hussein?

Edit: Quickly read the wiki, I see it is. I remember watching a doc about him and the guns a few years back.

[CaptainCrunch]

Yup, the Supergun was designed to fire a object the size of a phone booth into orbit, it was a fairly eligant solution to the use of rockets to put satellites into space.

Plus how cool would that be to be the artillary man that pushes the button.