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When the universe reaches it's heat death, all matter will be iron.

So I guess no carbon.

So I guess no steel.

Damn.
 
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Reactions: ian
This is all very cute. But one thing I virtually never hear talked about (assuming we can actually mine an asteroid) is how to get it where we need it. Even moving the metal (or ore) from wherever the asteroid is to Earth orbit is a big deal. There is a lot of delta-v that needs to be applied just to move the stuff from "there" to "here", never mind figuring out how to land it on Earth without leaving major craters.

It's nice to speculate about space mining. But it's a long way off for anything except very small scale niche applications. Mining ice on the moon for a settlement? Yes, maybe, given enough money and determination. Mining metals in the asteroid belt? Not any time soon.
 
I think the article kinda misses the point. As Michi mentioned mining asteroids, and getting it from A to B is not trivial and not for free. While it may at some point become economical to do this for rather rare and precious metals and elements, and stuff like Helium-3, for mundane stuff it makes very little (economical) sense. The only reason to mine that is in case you have construction (be it of vehicles, stations or habitats) in space, as boosting it from an asteroid will still be many times cheaper than overcoming the required escape velocity to get it off earth.
Until someone ponies up the investment for a launch loop or space elevator that might yet again make asteroid mining economically unattractive... :p
 
Just get bryan03 up there and ship some nice finished products (tamahagane ftw) from there? With a fair bit of oxygen and fuel I imagine.
 
When the universe reaches it's heat death, all matter will be iron.

So I guess no carbon.

So I guess no steel.

Damn.

I thought it would be a cold death due to entropy? Sadly with nobody around to pry our knives out of our cold, dead hands.
 
The "answer" will come,,,,, on SPACEBOOK.

Who needs to extract minerals???? Just get there first,,,, claim the planet or asteroid,,,,,, sell shares,,,,,, become the first intergalactic gazillionair. :goodjob:
 
Step 1: Mine asteroid.

Step 2: Send the ore towards the Sun in a pyrex space container, so the heat from the sun naturally smelts it.

Step 3: Send into a spin so the impurities go flying out.

Step 4: Land in the ocean to cool it down.

Step 5: Steal underpants.

Step 6: TBD

Step 7: PROFIT! :dancingchicken:
 

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