this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2024
1 points (100.0% liked)

Futurology

1773 readers
7 users here now

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

This thread is for a open discussion of the named question.

Do you believe that miningoperation on asteroids are possible? Or not? Why?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

We know it's technically possible, the question is if it's economically worthwhile. If space launch from Earth is cheap, the further out that date is. Reusable rockets and railgun launches could make launches much cheaper. On the other hand, when it comes to building large-scale structures in space, asteroid mining makes sense, but how far away is that day?

Precious metals like gold/platinum would be easier to get hold of there. But then if you flood the market back on Earth with them, they start to go down in value. Gold is only valuable now because it's rare.