SPACE MINING

Hank summarizes the exciting news about Planetary Resources, a company with plans to mine near-earth asteroids for precious metals and water, and what these plans might mean for humanity's future in space.

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For more information on this topic:
Planetary Resources website
http://www.planetaryresources.com/
Brief on the company from Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/...
Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study
http://kiss.caltech.edu/study/asteroi...

tags: planetary resources, asteroid mining, space mining, entrepreneur, space, space exploration, NASA, science, scishow, solar system, exploration, james cameron, google, humanity, near-earth asteroid, platinum, palladium, metal, carbonaceous chondrites, earth, robots, robotic craft, jet propulsion laboratory, JPL, technology, asteroid, profit, company, natural resources, curiosity, space travel, water, news

• Category

  News & Politics

[TheDemon2882]

adding money as an incentive will more than likely create another space race

i'm ready NASA and every other space agency

take me to Mars.

[CosmicButPlugg]

Because one asteroid holds more valuable elements like platinum than everything that has ever been mined on earth. The first person to do this will likely be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

[UNITiSGames]

But a lot of the mass of the asteroid would be incinerated during re-entry...

[toobles3]

1:40 "In other words...blehh??"

lmfao

[screen1you]

EVE.

[Atheistcat2004]

That's what they want you to think. >.>

[Atheistcat2004]

So many comments saying "so many dead space comments :)"

:P

[DementedCircle106]

But I thought he was busy raising the bar?

[DROW42]

I just thought of something, shouldn't we push these asteroids into a decaying earth orbit. guide them down to hit some unpopulated part of the Canadian Parries. That way we can mine them normally for a tiny fraction of the cost,and claim legit property rights. Heck maybe this is the answer to reclaiming our space junk. Just claim a 15 mile circle of land ground zero for asteroid collision.

[spamerman]

Oops, this was actually the link I meant to send you the other day /watch?v=Eqg_6p-smTY . It's almost the same Michio Kaku video though.

[Clint945]

Yeah, having robotics do the actual mining is the most viable option, however having a serious working von-neumann setup is a long way away scientifically.

As for collecting the ore, the most popular suggestions are to use water on asteroids to make fuel (as mentioned in the video) then use this to refuel cargo ships that can pick up ore and haul it back to Earth.

Other suggestions involve capturing asteroids whole and tugging them back to Earth to be mined.

Both have many pros and cons.

[QuadratAugenFresse]

1:41