Moon, Ceres, and Asteroid mining/colony (2040-60)

[Spaceception]

Asteroid mining is pretty cool, planetary resources is doing it (http://www.planetaryresources.com/#home-intro) (Or trying to anyway) Around the 2020s, and last year, congress passed a law saying Asteroid miners can profit from their resources (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-law-paves-the-way-for-asteroid-mining-but-will-it-work/). But I want to imagine a bit farther, imagine Planetary resources goes on schedule, and succeeds in putting mining equipment on a NEO, now go 30 years out and imagine a small manned outpost is set up on Ceres (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_of_Ceres|http://www.space.com/28595-living-on-asteroids-dwarf-planet-ceres-infographic.html) Which would be the center of mining operations for Earth, Mars, And (Possibly) Venus, how would such a colony be setup? What resources could we be seeing come in for the 3 planets? Would this be a future you'd like sooner? Will SpaceX want to take at least a small part in it? What about a gov't space agency participating? And what about Lunar mining? What resources could we get from there?

Here are a few videos:

Testtube+: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JU5Y_2Tr_E

ExplainingTheFuture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjzO9-hF9Oc&index=97&list=WL

Fw thinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9cLLNpo2f8

Edited January 16, 2016 by Spaceception

[Spaceception]

Could we mine the Moon for Titanium? http://colonyworlds.com/2011/10/will-humanity-mine-the-moon-for-titanium.html

[SargeRho]

Titanium, Platinum, and other Platinum-group metals, Neodymium...the whole high-tech metal palette. 

[Spaceception]

14 minutes ago, SargeRho said:

Titanium, Platinum, and other Platinum-group metals, Neodymium...the whole high-tech metal palette. 

Don't forget Water:) (Which could be useful for Venusian colonies)

[Chewy62]

Gotta be careful not to flood the market with your newfound metals.

Falling prices on precious metals could put you out of business quickly. Its already happening right now.

http://www.infomine.com/investment/precious-metals/

[SargeRho]

I would actually hope to crash the prices, but not to the point where it's no longer viable. Because of how extremely useful these materials are.

[Spaceception]

5 minutes ago, SargeRho said:

I would actually hope to crash the prices, but not to the point where it's no longer viable. Because of how extremely useful these materials are.

Yup, Most metals from Asteroid mining could be used to dramatically lower the price of space exploration.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Spaceception

[fredinno]

I wonder how much more worthwhile space mining would be in comparison to say, underwater mining-especially since there's likely to be the same precious minerals there too, as more lava flows out into the sea than land, and more and larger volcanoes are also there. I think the Mid-Atlantic ridge would be an excellent place to mine, followed by the Hawaii Archipelago.

2 hours ago, Spaceception said:

imagine Planetary resources goes on schedule, and succeeds in putting mining equipment in the asteroid belt

Also, no. I doubt it, since the asteroid belt is so far out. A NEO would have to do- even something tiny (that could probably be redirected) like 3354 Amun would supply enough metallic grub for probably decades of operation.

[Spaceception]

Just now, fredinno said:

I wonder how much more worthwhile space mining would be in comparison to say, underwater mining-especially since there's likely to be the same precious minerals there too, as more lava flows out into the sea than land, and more and larger volcanoes are also there. I think the Mid-Atlantic ridge would be an excellent place to mine, followed by the Hawaii Archipelago.

An argument could be made against it, since we could be destroying fragile ecosystems (We've destroyed enough of those) mining for metals. and instead destroying Asteroids, where, lets be honest here, aren't doing anything other than being potential $$$.

Besides, there are way more resources in space than there could ever be on Earth, and they're jut waiting for us.

5 minutes ago, fredinno said:

Also, no. I doubt it, since the asteroid belt is so far out. A NEO would have to do- even something tiny (that could probably be redirected) like 3354 Amun would supply enough metallic grub for probably decades of operation.

Oops typo, but if I did mean that: Not even in the late 2020s, early 2030s?

[fredinno]

12 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

An argument could be made against it, since we could be destroying fragile ecosystems (We've destroyed enough of those) mining for metals. and instead destroying Asteroids, where, lets be honest here, aren't doing anything other than being potential $$$.

Besides, there are way more resources in space than there could ever be on Earth, and they're jut waiting for us.

Oops typo, but if I did mean that: Not even in the late 2020s, early 2030s?

Possibly, but not wholly likely. It needs to compete with Arctic and Oceanic Mining (especially the latter) which are both likely much cheaper.

 

14 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

An argument could be made against it, since we could be destroying fragile ecosystems (We've destroyed enough of those) mining for metals. and instead destroying Asteroids, where, lets be honest here, aren't doing anything other than being potential $$$.

Hasn't stopped people from trying. Also, that's only a real concern in the continental shelves, out in the Mid Atlantic ridge, the diversity is much less, though ecological damage it still a concern.

[Chewy62]

I wonder what the best way to get the material back to earth would be. We wont have any sort of orbital construction advanced enough to make rocket components for a very long time.

I'm thinking of nuclear/ion shuttles that would position decent sized chunks into LEO, where they would receive a disposable propulsion module and heatshield for deorbiting/reentry. This assumes that we can deorbit these things without them breaking up. Figure your "landing" site is in someplace like Nevada where it can fall harmlessly and be picked up by truck to be taken to a processing facility. 

Whats the biggest "chunk" of material this would be possible with?

[Spaceception]

5 minutes ago, Chewy62 said:

I'm thinking of nuclear/ion shuttles that would position decent sized chunks into LEO, where they would receive a disposable propulsion module and heatshield for deorbiting/reentry. This assumes that we can deorbit these things without them breaking up. Figure your "landing" site is in someplace like Nevada where it can fall harmlessly and be picked up by truck to be taken to a processing facility.

That's what I was thinking.

[fredinno]

32 minutes ago, Chewy62 said:

I wonder what the best way to get the material back to earth would be. We wont have any sort of orbital construction advanced enough to make rocket components for a very long time.

I'm thinking of nuclear/ion shuttles that would position decent sized chunks into LEO, where they would receive a disposable propulsion module and heatshield for deorbiting/reentry. This assumes that we can deorbit these things without them breaking up. Figure your "landing" site is in someplace like Nevada where it can fall harmlessly and be picked up by truck to be taken to a processing facility. 

Whats the biggest "chunk" of material this would be possible with?

No, it would be very unpopular, unless it is put in some sort of Shuttle to return large amounts of cargo in a controlled fashion.

[cubinator]

I'm not quite seeing this becoming viable in the next 50 years, but maybe in the next 100-150. But I'd love to be surprised! Asteroid mining is definitely something we should do someday, because there's no ecosystem to disturb (pretty sure) and there's a great abundance of metals that can be used for spacecraft, and that are rare on Earth. The monetary incentive will probably be what drives us to build large, permanent bases on Mars, Venus, the Moon, and in the asteroid belt, judging from the past. I think that would be really cool, because it would mark the beginning of the true "Space Age" where space travel becomes affordable and easy for everyone. I suspect this will happen sometime in the next two centuries, but again: I'd love to be surprised.