Why can't we leave well enough alone...
By
Blue Rabbit,
Posted on: 2012-04-22 24:18 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
Not really sure what you mean leave well enough alone? You are not one of those stop science people are you sir?
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
Asteroid mining is going to become a necessity sooner or later. There's only so much easily obtainable or recoverable metals that we access from the planet. Plus, you have the side benefit of not having to worry about environmental issues and/or wildlife concerns in order to extract the metals.
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Just make sure as you translate you read it aloud.
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
haven't movies taught us anything?
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As long as it doesn't explode and big fragments come our way |
Originally Posted by Dark One
Asteroid mining is going to become a necessity sooner or later. There's only so much easily obtainable or recoverable metals that we access from the planet. Plus, you have the side benefit of not having to worry about environmental issues and/or wildlife concerns in order to extract the metals.
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Seriously though, space mining will be a necessity one day. Of course we need to have the tech also.
You must not read from the book!
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I'm no astrophysicist, but I'm pretty sure 500 tons is not a planet-buster.
And if it is, well, we could get lucky and have it land on the undead horde. Win/win!
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Of course not, they are talking about only 25 ft in diameter. These are the small ones that tend to get detected a day or so before they pass by Earth but still it's an idea that has launched more than a few disaster films.
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Originally Posted by Hopeling
I'm no astrophysicist, but I'm pretty sure 500 tons is not a planet-buster.
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I live in the city where the Egyptian exhibit is on at the moment. Pretty exciting to see it's part of a larger and more interesting manuscript....
S.
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Especially not whist mining an asteroid.|
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
You must not read from the book!
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But if it's infected with space herpes we're all doomed.
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Originally Posted by Hopeling
I'm no astrophysicist, but I'm pretty sure 500 tons is not a planet-buster.
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Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
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Oh I don't expect 500 tons to be a planet buster, but then again it is not always the size to worry about so much as point of impact. |
Originally Posted by Hopeling
I'm no astrophysicist, but I'm pretty sure 500 tons is not a planet-buster.
And if it is, well, we could get lucky and have it land on the undead horde. Win/win! |
A meteor landing in the sea or a deserted area is one thing....a major city is something else.
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I agree with all of this. My only concern is that "asteroid mining" really shouldn't be our top space priority when we still don't even have things like 1) a cheap and reliable means to get to orbit on a routine basis 2) a serious space station that can be used to create and port other vehicles 3) a Moon base 4) a landing on Mars, and so on.|
Originally Posted by Dark One
Asteroid mining is going to become a necessity sooner or later. There's only so much easily obtainable or recoverable metals that we access from the planet. Plus, you have the side benefit of not having to worry about environmental issues and/or wildlife concerns in order to extract the metals.
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Asteroid mining will be important to us someday - we simply have like 20 or 30 other things we need to accomplish first before we worry about collecting extraterrestrial raw materials on an industrial level.
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No, I don't see what possible harm setting a 500-tonne asteroid on a collision course with Earth could be, particularly if Jim Cameron decides he wants it in his back yard in Los Angeles.
If it does arrive by 2025, I might buying property shortly beforehand, so I can sail the calm, clear, serene waters of Arizona Bay with my nephews.
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?
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Acquiring those materials could be seen as creating a space carrot of motivation.
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Originally Posted by Lothic
I agree with all of this. My only concern is that "asteroid mining" really shouldn't be our top space priority when we still don't even have things like 1) a cheap and reliable means to get to orbit on a routine basis 2) a serious space station that can be used to create and port other vehicles 3) a Moon base 4) a landing on Mars, and so on.
Asteroid mining will be important to us someday - we simply have like 20 or 30 other things we need to accomplish first before we worry about collecting extraterrestrial raw materials on an industrial level. |
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
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Sure it's certainly one way to make going out into space "attractive" to those who would want to make a profit off of it. I simply see it as a relatively long-term goal and people need to be realistic about that. Without the "infrastructure" I mentioned any material we mined from an asteroid today would literally cost millions of dollars per kilo - it's simply no where near cost-effective to worry about at this point.|
Originally Posted by Tenzhi
Acquiring those materials could be seen as creating a space carrot of motivation.
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Think of this like the California gold rush of the 1840s. Sure there was plenty of opportunity to be had there, but until we started to build the railroads to get lots of people and material out to California it didn't get up to the serious, industrialized level things like that are today.
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Actually, I'm now prepared to admit... 500 tons is NOT going to make a hole in anything except Jim Cameron's wallet.
Obviously, 500 tons is quite big compared to, say, me, and it would probably hurt if it fell on my toe. However, it wouldn't.
500 tons translates as roughly only a 9- or 10-m wide 'roid: and even if we accelerate it way beyond normal impact velocities using a massdriver to a respectable near-cometary speed (50km/sec), it's still way too small to do anything but burn up and make pretty sparks in the upper atmosphere and maybe drop the odd fist-sized chunk into someone's back yard. Fireballs this size happen quite frequently.
In order to flatten Los Angeles, I now require a 1.5km-wide asteroid in order to make a 21-mile wide final crater. Here, do the math - courtesy of Imperial College... http://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEffects/
...while I go off to Mad Moff Tarkin's Used Tractor Beam Emporium And Hot Tub Saleroom.
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?
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I can imagine options 1 and 3 happening before the others would. Then probably #4 and then a starbase/space station. |
Originally Posted by Lothic
I agree with all of this. My only concern is that "asteroid mining" really shouldn't be our top space priority when we still don't even have things like 1) a cheap and reliable means to get to orbit on a routine basis 2) a serious space station that can be used to create and port other vehicles 3) a Moon base 4) a landing on Mars, and so on.
Asteroid mining will be important to us someday - we simply have like 20 or 30 other things we need to accomplish first before we worry about collecting extraterrestrial raw materials on an industrial level. |
Hm, once we finally get a moon base developed, should we call it Moonbase Alpha?
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1 and 2 are necessary steps to asteroid mining. We need both a reason and a financial incentive to build them to get there. Just building stuff "because" simply isn't a good enough reason.|
Originally Posted by Lothic
I agree with all of this. My only concern is that "asteroid mining" really shouldn't be our top space priority when we still don't even have things like 1) a cheap and reliable means to get to orbit on a routine basis 2) a serious space station that can be used to create and port other vehicles 3) a Moon base 4) a landing on Mars, and so on.
Asteroid mining will be important to us someday - we simply have like 20 or 30 other things we need to accomplish first before we worry about collecting extraterrestrial raw materials on an industrial level. |
Nebulous "research" that people can't see immediate fruits from isn't going to cut it anymore. Competition or national pride won't do the trick like in the '60s, especially when people think that NASA gets 40+% of the national budget, but tell people that we could get metals and materials from asteroids that'll make their next iPod or car cheaper? They'd be all over that.
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There may come a time when our need for relatively rare materials like gold or platinum for industrial purposes will become so dire that it'll drive our need to mine asteroids for those things. But right now an iPod made with extraterrestrial gold components would likely cost on the order of like $5000 simply because the cost of getting that specific bit of gold from that location and bringing it back would simply be too cost prohibitive.|
Originally Posted by Dark One
1 and 2 are necessary steps to asteroid mining. We need both a reason and a financial incentive to build them to get there. Just building stuff "because" simply isn't a good enough reason.
Nebulous "research" that people can't see immediate fruits from isn't going to cut it anymore. Competition or national pride won't do the trick like in the '60s, especially when people think that NASA gets 40+% of the national budget, but tell people that we could get metals and materials from asteroids that'll make their next iPod or car cheaper? They'd be all over that. |
Unfortunately I suspect that people will be willing to drill 10+ miles down for possible gold deposits on Earth before they'll be willing to pay the cost to go up into space to get it. Eventually the tide will turn and space-based sources will finally become more cost effective. I simply suspect that it's going to take quite a long time for the paradigm to shift that way.
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You have to remember the audience that the message is being tailored to. These are the same people that made Kim Kardashian famous and take Glenn Beck seriously. In other words, tell them that building the infrastructure will create jobs (and it will) and that they can get cheap gas by mining on Titan, and they'll be all for it.|
Originally Posted by Lothic
There may come a time when our need for relatively rare materials like gold or platinum for industrial purposes will become so dire that it'll drive our need to mine asteroids for those things. But right now an iPod made with extraterrestrial gold components would likely cost on the order of like $5000 simply because the cost of getting that specific bit of gold from that location and bringing it back would simply be too cost prohibitive.
Unfortunately I suspect that people will be willing to drill 10+ miles down for possible gold deposits on Earth before they'll be willing to pay the cost to go up into space to get it. Eventually the tide will turn and space-based sources will finally become more cost effective. I simply suspect that it's going to take quite a long time for the paradigm to shift that way. |
Also, tell the hipster community that there's an infinite supply of thick rimmed glasses and PBR out there, and they'll be for it too. Heck, they'll be for it before it was "cool".
Oookay. NOW I get why they want to do this.
The target asteroid they want to tow back - which is only about 2km wide - is 3554 Amun. Which is made up of the usual silicates, interesting ores, and odd bits of space ice...
Oh yeah, and a few thousand tonnes of native platinum, plus a bunch of tellurides, sulfides and platiniridium alloy. Yummy.
I never trust stories posted to Mashable over numbers, but if it's even a tenth as rich as the estimates then there's about two trillion bucks' worth of rare metals in them thar 'roids.
http://news.yahoo.com/20-trillion-ro...235028470.html
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?
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I think we're safe. I have a copy of the book of the dead with translations. The spells in it mainly are supposed to work only in the afterlife, and I didn't see any raise zombie minions spells in there.
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
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haven't movies taught us anything?
Rare Egyptian Book of the Dead scrolls found in Australian collection
James Cameron, Google Duo Back Asteroid-Mining Venture
Asteroid takeouta one-billionaire mission to bring a 500-ton asteroid to Earth by 2025
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet