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louis

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2008-03-24

Posts: 7,208

Exploitation of resources in space - Little Luxembourg Leads

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35482427

As I deduced from the Outer Space Treaty there is no bar on exploitation of resources in space.  As soon as the technology becomes affordable we will see fast-growing used of materials in space. 

The main thing I would worry about is pollution of the atmosphere is rocketry becomes a regular mode of shifting huge tonnages of metals.

The sooner we develop an electric form of space propulsion, the better.

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SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,017

Re: Exploitation of resources in space - Little Luxembourg Leads

Article

Two notable American companies, Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources, have begun assembling teams to design spacecraft systems that can survey potential targets and eventually grab ores at, or just below, their surface.

If we look at the cost to develope even a robotic rover, lander is in the 400 million to 1 billion in costs including the launcher so we would really need to find something of great value and with little mass in order to make the return of it worth it to bring it back to Earth for sale or use.

I think the real industry of mining space is to use it in space instead to allow for building with these materials without to need to overcome the gravity well of earth that makes space expensive in the first place.

https://deepspaceindustries.com/

http://www.planetaryresources.com/