Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

space.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 221 posts

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#31

Post by wtracy »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #20
joshontheweb wrote: post #3

How do I get a job as a space miner?

I think the comment about becoming a robot is accurate in its way, the 'pick' of a space miner is likely a semi-autonomous front loader equivalent which can process for a particular mineral/substance. However, if you read the article (either the parent or the NYTimes one) you will see that there is some thought about bringing an asteroid to one of the Lagrange points or into a Lunar orbit (something that would make t…

If you're bringing an object that close to home, I don't know why you'd need someone up there just to teleoperate the equipment. At that distance, the lightspeed delay gets low enough that the person with the joystick could work from earth.

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#32

Post by nosignal »

prawn wrote: post #25
SamReidHughes wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it because asteroids are already ugly?

I'm not sure that's it. I don't hear of wrecking crews smashing up a derelict corporate wasteland (arguably far uglier than any natural shape) and feel some peaceful, "all is right" sensation. Maybe something to do with the serenity of the void. But probably more related to this being a step forward? A sense of progression? Could come from growing up reading and imagining anything to do with space exploration. How ma…

I'm supposed to be teaching a class on introductory Python (students are doing their exercises now) and I want to scrap the rest of the day to talk about how phenomenally awesome this news is.

I'll settle for a strange, quiet sense of elation.

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#33

Post by richcollins »

necubi wrote: post #4

This NY Times article has a lot more information: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/science/space/in-pursuit-o... . It's wonderful to see people spending huge amounts of money to expand the reach of humanity instead of our capacity for narcissism. Startups like these give me hope for the future.

What makes you think this isn't about narcissism?

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#34

Post by raldi »

lmarinho wrote: post #22

I'm curious about how they plan to bring these materials here. I assume changing the trajectory of the asteroid towards Earth wouldn't be a very good idea, considering the potential risk of impact. Maybe small chunks of material brought by numerous cheap reentry capsules are the way to go.

I'd crash them into the moon (no atmosphere, so they wouldn't burn up on entry) for about a decade, then send ore-processing robots to smelt them down, then figure out later how to bring the results back.

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#35

Post by tylee78 »

Now seriously, as a software developer, what would be the best skill set to help these guys... As soon as I can afford it I would knock at their door and work for them for free. What would be most usefull for them (or spaceX)... A lot of C, C++, knowing NASA's open source repos in and out, doing MIT online courses on robotics and astrophysics... ?

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#36

Post by WalterBright »

I'm a little surprised that billionaires haven't already done things like launched a couple more Hubble telescopes. The design is already done and debugged, just clone it, and launch it.

The same for several other successful interplanetary probes - build a (relatively) cheap fleet of clones of successful designs, and send them out to explore the solar system fully.

Heck, you don't even have to come up with all the money yourself. Sell advertising on the mission. Having a logo on the rocket, and logos on the returned pix, etc., are all fantastic opportunities for advertising.

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#38

Post by sage_joch »

necubi wrote: post #4

This NY Times article has a lot more information: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/science/space/in-pursuit-o... . It's wonderful to see people spending huge amounts of money to expand the reach of humanity instead of our capacity for narcissism. Startups like these give me hope for the future.

"One possibility the company is considering is to nudge a small asteroid, perhaps one as long as a football field, into an orbit around Earth closer than the moon."

I hope they're careful. :-)

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#39

Post by WalterBright »

WalterBright wrote: post #36

I'm a little surprised that billionaires haven't already done things like launched a couple more Hubble telescopes. The design is already done and debugged, just clone it, and launch it. The same for several other successful interplanetary probes - build a (relatively) cheap fleet of clones of successful designs, and send them out to explore the solar system fully. Heck, you don't even have to come up with all the mo…

In fact, a lot of the exploration journeys of the 1800s were financed by advertisers and newspapers looking to sell newspapers.

Re: Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

#40

Post by guynamedloren »

Cannot explain how much this excites me... but can somebody familiar with the matter please elaborate on the economics of this? How, exactly, do they intend to make money?

I was under the impression (from previous articles) that the raw minerals from the asteroids were worth tens or hundreds of thousands $$, while the process of bringing them to Earth would be orders of magnitude higher (millions or billions). Wouldn't it be more economical to use the materials for space ventures/stations/etc? Or are the asteroids composed of some high value materials that can be hugely profitable?

Edit: this is not to say that the venture isn't utterly amazing - but there does seem to be quite a bit of focus on profit, and that confuses me.

Post reply on HN