Mining Titan, was it really worth it?

[sojourner]

19 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

bicycles are prohibited outside of recreation zones;

LOL.

 

 

Titan may not be economical to mine for use on Earth, but in some far flung future it will be the economic power house of the Saturn system.

[Adstri]

On ‎4‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 10:26 PM, ARS said:

Mining methane from Titan (Saturn's moon). I mean, sure there's a lot of methane and hydrocarbon lakes which makes it a potential moon to be colonized and mined for fuels. But considering the distance from the earth, was it really worth for a mining operation to basically establish a mining site on titan, mine the methane, refine it as fuel, and transport it back to earth? Cassini-Huygens mission took almost seven years to reach Saturn flyby, and it's a one-way trip. Considering the time it takes between sending the mining operation to the arrival of fuel from Titan, was it really worth all the effort? (Assuming we are able to establish a colony on Titan)

Replies are appreciated

Cassini-Huygens took so long due to all of the gravity-assists it had to take. Voyager 1 took 3 years and two months. Cassini-Huygens did so many gravity assists to save on fuel. Voyager used a ton of fuel so it can take advantage of the rare encounter.

[magnemoe]

On 12.5.2017 at 5:18 AM, sojourner said:

LOL

Titan may not be economical to mine for use on Earth, but in some far flung future it will be the economic power house of the Saturn system.

This, its no need to send hydrocarbons to earth we have enough. (somehow peak oil has changed from running out to running over making wells unprofitable :))
Energy vise it also make no sense its easy to make simple hydrocarbons, it just take energy. 
The interesting thing to mine in space to bring back to earth is rare metals, nothing else, yes it probably products who can only be manufactured in space but that is another story.  
 

[kerbiloid]

11 hours ago, magnemoe said:

The interesting thing to mine in space to bring back to earth is rare metals

I.e. supernova remains.
(elements heavier than Fe).