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Asteroid Mining Venture Backed by Google Execs, James Cameron Unveiled

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

#191

Post by WalterBright »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #86
WalterBright wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that the cost could be cut quite a bit, especially since the design is already done. Also, the Mars landers cost $250M, well within the budget of a billionare investor.

Even if you had blueprints that said "here's exactly how to build a space telescope" just building it and going through all the proper testing would be quite expensive. Certainly you could just privately fund, say, Johns Hopkins University's APL to build a spacecraft for you, but it would still cost hundreds of millions of dollars and still be a comparatively risky endeavor. More so when you consider that the operati…

Even using your figures, it's quite within reach.

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

#192

Post by Retric »

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #182
Retric wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just a question of efficiency, if the cheapest way to get platinum is asteroid mining then once it starts it can out compete traditional platinum mining.(1) Generally speaking as the price for a commodity drops the market for that commodity increases more than the price drop. AKA, if gold costs X, and you can produce gold for 1/2 the price then expect to sell more than 2x as much gold. With Oil being a classic e…

Thank you. Very interesting. Generally speaking as the price for a commodity drops the market for that commodity increases more than the price drop. I know almost nothing about economics. Is there a general mechanism that explains this?

Substitution. What materials you use to build something is a function of their property's and their costs. AKA, you can use timber frame or steel to build a house which one you chose depends on their costs not just their inherent property's because either one will meet the same basic needs (strength, durability, toxicity, etc.)

Also, economy's are complex enough that there are a wide range of cost/benefit trade-offs going on. Electrically silver is a better conductor than copper which is better than Aluminum. While silver costs to much to be used for most wiring copper and aluminum tend to trade off based on weight strength issues. So, high tension power wires tend to use aluminum due to it's physical property's outweighing electrical issues after costs are taken into consideration.

Again this is just the size of the market in nominal value. AKA if the price drops to 1/2 and you sell 2.1 times as much the total market increased even if everyone's margins where squeezed.

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

#193

Post by richcollins »

mryan wrote: post #128
richcollins wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think this isn't about narcissism?

What if it is? (I don't think it is, but let's assume for a moment). Does it matter? We will still advance as a species, regardless of the motivation of the original backers. One of my favourite aspects of capitalism is that it can provide individuals with an incentive to achieve goals that benefit the species as a whole. Sure, the backers will get richer, and they will get loads of personal press out of it. But we w…

It doesn't. Just pointing out that much of what we do is driven by narcissism and it's better to accept this fact than to pretend that it is otherwise.

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

#194

Post by burke »

guscost wrote: post #173
cloudwalking wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"'The company is cash flow positive, already,' Mr. Anderson said." How is this possible?

It sounds totally insane, but I read somewhere that the backers just bought a bunch of platinum puts and then announced their plans to mine it from space...

I'm sure I wasn't the only one that was curious about this, so:

> There are very limited laws against "insider trading" in the commodities markets, if, for no other reason, than that the concept of an "insider" is not immediately analogous to commodities themselves (e.g., corn, wheat, steel, etc.). However, analogous activities such as front running are illegal under U.S. commodity and futures trading laws. For example, a commodity broker can be charged with fraud if he or she receives a large purchase order from a client (one likely to affect the price of that commodity) and then purchases that commodity before executing the client's order in order to benefit from the anticipated price increase. [edit]

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

#195

Post by pjscott »

infectoid wrote: post #17
jaysonelliot wrote: post #13

My inner ten-year old is leaping up and down with excitement right now. I've got visions of OMNI magazine illustrations from the 1980s in my head, with watercolors of mining ships and stylish orange-suited astronauts. It's been so long since the future felt like it would match up to the optimistic sci-fi of a few decades ago, that I'd nearly forgotten. I know this is just one announcement of an intention, but I don't…

Totally with you man. Let the nay sayers nay. It's activities like these that inspire the Human race as a whole. I don't even care if it's successful. Just to attempt such a grand idea is a great achievement.

I definitely care if it succeeds. If they're successful, then not only will they make a lot of money and make some materials much cheaper, but it will be the thing that funds the commercial space industry and makes large-scale investment in space economically viable. That's huge.

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

#196

Post by pjscott »

krschultz wrote: post #137
cloudwalking wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"'The company is cash flow positive, already,' Mr. Anderson said." How is this possible?

Because they haven't hired the engineers yet. A couple founders raising money and taking pre-orders can be cash flow positive. Then they will build out the team, it likely will be cashflow negative for a while (or else they wouldn't have raised money), and then hopefully it will be cashflow positive again.

No, according to the NY Times article, "the company employs about 25 engineers and has development contracts for technologies like laser communications that it believes it will need for prospecting and mining missions."

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

#197

Post by pjscott »

jacques_chester wrote: post #19

It really bugs me when billionaires do the same thing I would do with billions of dollars before I have billions of dollars to do them with. Seriously. Space mining and pressure from environmentalism is going to turn this whole field into rivers of gold ... in the sky.

If you get billions of dollars, you'll be happy that the asteroid mining guys put the space infrastructure in place to allow you to do really cool things.

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

#198

Post by pjscott »

vibrunazo wrote: post #172
redthrowaway wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interesting thing is, we have those budget cuts to thank for this. In the 50 years since we landed on the moon, we've put a massively expensive and questionably valuable series of tubes a few hundred kilometres from the Earth's surface, and sent a couple robots to Mars. These are both notable accomplishments, but they're hardly enough to give humanity any permanent presence in space. Space exploration has languis…

But it's hard for governments to have its sight range longer than the election cycle. Private companies can aim for longer than 4 years without worrying about not being reelected when it's time to collect the spoils of their hard work.

That's especially true if they're controlled and funded by people with long-term vision who care more about getting important things done than they care about short-term profits. That's how SpaceX could spend so long burning money out of Elon Musk's pocket before they started turning a profit. This company has the same kind of backing: some very rich people who really want to see asteroid mining happen, and don't give a damn which congressional district gets to manufacture the hardware for it.

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

#199

Post by mladenkovacevic »

dustyreagan wrote: post #77
yohui wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - James Cameron (goog) I don't think Cameron is involved in Google, is he?

No. This is James Cameron the director. Same guy that funded Deepsea Challenger. This guy is doing some pretty cool stuff with his money.

Yes, the very same guy that stole my dream life.

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

#200

Post by eru »

sabj wrote: post #147

I am tremendously excited to hear about this project; it's exactly what I want(ed) to do, these billionaires have just gotten the jump on me by a few (dozen) zeroes of net worth. If any of them are reading, or anyone here knows them, I would do anything to get involved in this effort; the development and exploration of space is the most important mission in human history, and I'd love to put to work my business exper…

> [...] I would do anything to get involved in this effort; [...]

Have you applied for a job at SpaceX, yet? That's one way to get involved with modern space faring.

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