Comments on: Diamandis, Anderson and Simonyi to Launch Extraterrestrial Mining Company

By: Gary Anderson

Gary Anderson — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:22:18 +0000

Regarding Elon.

My take, Elon Musk is being left out for the simple word, ‘distraction’. That does not mean SpaceX doesn’t have a place at the table.

Those involved with Planetary Resources are probably letting Elon move forward on his pace ‘lowering the cost to orbit’. If Elon Musk achieves those goals, and Falcon Heavy does what they expect in the future, there is no doubt in my mind F9H will launch future mining equipment versus the government wasteful paper rockets.

Gary Anderson
Northeast Regional Director
Tea Party in Space

By: Doug Messier

Doug Messier — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:42:09 +0000

This new study on asteroid retrieval and mining may provide a good guide to what they will announce next week:

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/04/19/new-study-says-asteroid-retrieval-and-mining-feasible-with-existing-and-near-term-technologies/

By: Reusables Forever

Reusables Forever — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:24:54 +0000

I’m looking forward to what kind of transportation system they’ll have to create to get all that mining equipment and personnel up there, support the needed logistics, and incidentally, getting the product back to Earth for a recognizable ROI.

By: Doug Messier

Doug Messier — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:42:08 +0000

Mr. or Ms. Anonymous:

Based on the IP address, it seems we’ve got a bit of sarcasm from Down Under (specifically Perth). Very subtle. Like a kangaroo boxing a croc. Or something.

I’ve added an update so that you — and everyone else — can know what I was thinking when I wrote the headline. Just try not to choke on your Vegemite sandwich when you read that I have good reason to believe this is a space mining company.

By: Doug Messier

Doug Messier — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:25:28 +0000

Hi Geoff.

Diamandis talks about resources in this video: http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/04/19/video-peter-diamandis-talks-about-asteroid-mining/

By: Geoff T

Geoff T — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:29:06 +0000

Out of curiosity, which materials currently have any potential for both being extracted off-world and already have a viable market for them? The oft repeated example of Helium-3 is the only one I’m well aware of, and that would only become worthwhile once any form of nuclear fusion has been developed. Surely there must be other resources which could be economically viable?

Also, how would these resources be returned to Earth? Never really seen that discussed either.

By: Edward

Edward — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:41:58 +0000

I’ll be surprised if they leave Elon out of this.

By: warshawski

warshawski — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:14:56 +0000

I hope they have deep pockets and long vision to cope with the inevitable early problems, but once it is done once it will open the flood gates.
This is the start of the critical mass required for full comercial operations in space without the need for government assistance.
Best of luck.

By: Stan

Stan — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:24:16 +0000

The money is already there!!

Hope it works.

By: Joel Raupe

Joel Raupe — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:45:20 +0000

in situ resource utilization… GO!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:15:51 +0000

I love it when people make wild assumptions in a headline, and then provide no basis for those assumptions in the news story. It’s better when they don’t say anything at all about those assumptions in the news story and just leave it completely unexplained and unmentioned. Top class journalism, it’s a wonder you’re not working for Reuters.

ps. Wait, I would normally assume it was obvious, but given the display shown here I can’t assume anything so I should mention it just in case; this comment was littered with sarcasm.