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blondgecko
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Apr 20, 2012, 4:01 AM
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Are we about to see Earth's first asteroid mining company?
In reply to: Join visionary Peter H. Diamandis, M.D.; leading commercial space entrepreneur Eric Anderson; former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki; and planetary scientist & veteran NASA astronaut Tom Jones, Ph.D. on Tuesday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. PDT in Seattle, or via webcast, as they unveil a new space venture with a mission to help ensure humanity’s prosperity. Supported by an impressive investor and advisor group, including Google’s Larry Page & Eric Schmidt, Ph.D.; film maker & explorer James Cameron; Chairman of Intentional Software Corporation and Microsoft’s former Chief Software Architect Charles Simonyi, Ph.D.; Founder of Sherpalo and Google Board of Directors founding member K. Ram Shriram; and Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group Ross Perot, Jr., the company will overlay two critical sectors – space exploration and natural resources – to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP. This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of ‘natural resources’.
The listed people between them control billions upon billions of dollars in funds. Whatever they announce on Tuesday, it's going to be pretty damned serious.
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guangzhou
Apr 20, 2012, 6:19 AM
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Need to keep an eye open for when this goes public.
I know it might not be mining, but interesting.
Wonder if a mining colony would be the first step. Instead of launching and landing for every asteroid, pre located everything in space, gathers loads, then return to Earth with them.
Would thins help the Earth or create more problems. Sure, no more strip mining.
If everything was stage in space, processed, then returned, it would definitely create jobs and economic growth. Not just science, but also service and support.
Of course, if this is even mining, maybe they don't plan on bringing it back to Earth, but use it to build something in space. This would help eliviate some of the cost involved with getting material out there. Expending a space station, developing a space resort for the rich, who knows.
(This post was edited by guangzhou on Apr 20, 2012, 7:04 AM)
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sungam
Apr 20, 2012, 8:43 AM
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Seriously, though, I caught this on reddit and I think it's very, very exciting.
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squierbypetzl
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May 4, 2012, 4:31 AM
Post #5 of 11
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You and Ayn Rand would've really hit it off, I think.
So billionaires are trying to increase the Earth's mass in order to set it off its orbit eh? It's great that someone is finally taking the plunge to try and take the next step in space.
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guangzhou
May 4, 2012, 7:42 AM
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squierbypetzl wrote: You and Ayn Rand would've really hit it off, I think.
While I love her books, and I recommend them often to people, I know that the stories of her book are not applicable to the real world.
While her books and ideas are great, I don't think I would actually enjoy her as a person. She hardly lived up to her own view of what people should do. Actually, like many here, was great at telling other people what they should do and how they should live, using her books, without following her own guidelines.
In reply to: So billionaires are trying to increase the Earth's mass in order to set it off its orbit eh? It's great that someone is finally taking the plunge to try and take the next step in space.
It will be long time before we have to worry about the Earth's mass being risen significantly enough to worry about it's orbit. (I doubt ever actually)
The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are definitely among my favorite books.
I also believe people should be paid for what they do. I don't believe in hand outs or need based salaries. If someone is great at what they do and no one wants to pay them for those services, I see nothing wrong with that person not providing those services or skills.
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blondgecko
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May 4, 2012, 9:48 AM
Post #7 of 11
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squierbypetzl wrote: You and Ayn Rand would've really hit it off, I think. So billionaires are trying to increase the Earth's mass in order to set it off its orbit eh? It's great that someone is finally taking the plunge to try and take the next step in space.
Nah. They're only talking a few hundred tonnes for the forseeable future. That's on the order of 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of the Earth's mass.
And I agree with guangzhou, up to a point. The bit he misses is that the technological environment necessary to make this sort of endeavour possible simply wouldn't exist without the past decades (and trillions of dollars in today's terms) of government investment into space research.
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guangzhou
May 4, 2012, 1:13 PM
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I didn't miss the bit about various government spending billion into space exploration. I also realize that the technology and advancement from all those years will benefit the private sector with new endeavors.
What I was apposed to was that Government organization have been keeping the private sector out for a couple of decades now. If private companies had been allowed to enter the "space race" earlier, the government could have saved some money and space technology would be further along by now.
Space mining or space resort could both be a lucrative field for a private business willing to invest the initial capital to make it work.
Overall, I think the government lock down on space has slowed down the development. I don't think we'd reach the age of the Jetsons, but we'd have more accomplished for sure.
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squierbypetzl
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May 4, 2012, 9:36 PM
Post #10 of 11
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guangzhou wrote: What I was apposed to was that Government organization have been keeping the private sector out for a couple of decades now. If private companies had been allowed to enter the "space race" earlier, the government could have saved some money and space technology would be further along by now.
How do you figure gvt had the private sector locked out? If they had really wanted to do it, there's plenty of land all over the world from which to launch from, not to mention the ocean.
As with so many things that have radically changed the world, government spending bears the brunt of the initial investment and development of a given field, and the private sector merely joins in and takes things over once the heavy lifting has been done ("internet" ring a bell?).
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squierbypetzl
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May 4, 2012, 9:37 PM
Post #11 of 11
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 My bad.
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