Cool space stuff...

[Barthheart]

About frakkin time we get off this ball of dirt.....

http://news.yahoo.com/asteroid-mining-venture-backed-google-execs-james-cameron-011205183.html

[mirth]

I have a bad feeling about this. With James Cameron involved, you know they'll find an Alien or Terminator and bring it back to Earth.

[LongBlade]

That is cool.

But let us ponder this statement a moment:

And there are a lot of precious metals up there waiting to be mined. A single platinum-rich space rock 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide contains the equivalent of all the platinum-group metals ever mined throughout human history, company officials said.

OK, say they manage to mine that rock and extract a boatload of platinum from it.

Let's pretend they only get a quarter of the platinum on that rock...

.......that's still a 20% increase in supply hitting the market overnight.

Now, they can either let the chips fall where they may, or they can pull a DeBeers and monopolize their find, slowly doling out their metal in order to keep the price up and make a fortune (albeit slower than maybe they wanted).

The economics of that get a bit convoluted. I wonder if they've really thought through how it's going to work.

[Barthheart]

I think if they just dump it on the market and the price plumets, that they will never recoup their cost of getting it in the first place. It's goingh to take tremendous amounts of up front capital to get this started let alone the operating costs of transport back from the asteroids...

I'd be buying platium stocks, if that were possible, rather than selling right now....

[Centurion40]

But, if we opened human colonies on the moon, Mars, and a moon or two around Jupiter... well there just might be a market!

[MIGMaster]

Richard Branson may actually buy the moon and use it as a giant advertsing tool for Virgin Intergalactic. Beats a blimp.

[LongBlade]

Richard Branson may actually buy the moon and use it as a giant advertsing tool for Virgin Intergalactic. Beats a blimp.

Nothing beats a blimp.

Nothing.

[Staggerwing]

Richard Branson may actually buy the moon and use it as a giant advertsing tool for Virgin Intergalactic. Beats a blimp.

Nothing beats a blimp.

Nothing.

...except a Zeppelin! Especially one that carries aircraft in it's belly!

[TheCommandTent]

That is cool.

But let us ponder this statement a moment:

And there are a lot of precious metals up there waiting to be mined. A single platinum-rich space rock 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide contains the equivalent of all the platinum-group metals ever mined throughout human history, company officials said.

OK, say they manage to mine that rock and extract a boatload of platinum from it.

Let's pretend they only get a quarter of the platinum on that rock...

.......that's still a 20% increase in supply hitting the market overnight.

Now, they can either let the chips fall where they may, or they can pull a DeBeers and monopolize their find, slowly doling out their metal in order to keep the price up and make a fortune (albeit slower than maybe they wanted).

The economics of that get a bit convoluted. I wonder if they've really thought through how it's going to work.

I am sure the government will be along shortly to regulate it :)

[LongBlade]

Richard Branson may actually buy the moon and use it as a giant advertsing tool for Virgin Intergalactic. Beats a blimp.

Nothing beats a blimp.

Nothing.

...except a Zeppelin! Especially one that carries aircraft in it's belly!

Unless.....





..... it carries them on top!

[LongBlade]

I'd be buying platium stocks, if that were possible, rather than selling right now....

Actually, I just looked around online and it appears there are two ETFs for platinum: PGM and PPLT. Both look pretty volatile so I'd be careful playing with them. There's also a Palladium ETF PALL, too.

[Staggerwing]

Unless.....





..... it carries them on top!

Heh, I knew as soon as I posted that I'd be seeing that. ;D

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Richard Branson may actually buy the moon and use it as a giant advertsing tool for Virgin Intergalactic. Beats a blimp.

Nothing beats a blimp.

Nothing.

...except a Zeppelin! Especially one that carries aircraft in it's belly!

Unless.....





..... it carries them on top!

Physics fail.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I suspect the original article is misinformation about what they want to do. How will they stop the burnup of minerals sent back? How will they land it?


If you go to a near earth asteroid you would be well off to just form it into a space station where it is. Send resources to the ISS for expansion, etc.

[MikeGER]

that's so cool  8)

where can i send in my full application !