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 Replies: 10 / Views: 4,857 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/401227.stmWell, it seems that there is a neighboring asteroid here in the old Milky-way in which I for one would like to visit with a pick ax and a Sluice box, complete with a space suit, orbital lander, and of course a gold rover. Maybe Bruce Willis if he is available for the trip. No need for self sacrifice this time in order to save mankind an later get a high-school or two named after him..... In all seriousness, the setting of the surface of that asteroid, I wounder how accurate that was to the real thing, and when we do walk on one, will it be as unpredictable and dangerous as the movie. I am sure it would be a real death trap, with more unforeseen deaths just awaiting around the next corner, and no EMSHAW to regulate the safety, rof  ..... Two hundred thousand more times the gold mined here on Earth already, present on Eros scientists think.... Now, let me turn this political for the sake of future Pm's, in the fact that I have to watch headline news most of the day, and I am so sick of presidential debate, I could vomit in the little trash can beside my desk. Old ball Mitt does not seem to be in favor of any money put towards space exploration, not taking into consideration the endless possibilities like Eros brings to humanity, for not only PM's, but for all Romney knows, there is a cure for cancer on that rock, or to colonize the moon to which this argument pertained.... Newt just stands there like a deer in headlights, clearly not the smooth debater of the for mentioned. He needs to step up for the space program IMO, which I don't think he really embraces, just riding the fence, probably looking for the best way to bounce when the time comes  . He wouldn't do that now would he, as that seems like something a politician would do....  Edited by Silverhawk74
01/27/2012 11:22 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3670 Posts |
Now then take into account also that article is from 1999, and they figured Eros with the spot price of gold in the formula at 250 per oz. O.K. math an gold experts, what is it worth today, not including the mountain of zinc, platinum, aluminum, and other alloys present on it?
It also makes much sense to me that a banana shaped asteroid would have that much YELLOW gold in it, kind of a cosmic sense of humor I like to think....
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New Member
Canada
30 Posts |
I hear yeh loud and clear on the presidential vomit I have to listen to all day.....and living in Canada, and that stuff not really relating to me......drives me nuts that thats seems to be all they talk about these days.
eros....haha thing is we really dont want them to get up there and mine it do we? If the market was flooded with that amount of gold pretty shure that wouldent be good for us stackers.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Doing some math on the numbers in the article, they claim that 433 Eros contains about 4 billion ounces of gold (based on the numbers in the article.) The volume of Eros is about 2900 cubic kilometers, or about 3.79e12 cubic yards. In order for a gold mine to be profitable, it's usually got to produce something on the order of a gram per yard. Based on my calculations, 433 Eros has about 0.0014 ozt per yard, or 0.045 grams per yard.
Based on the gold content, it would not be near profitable to mine this rock if it were sitting in your back yard, let alone the hundreds of billions (possibly trillions) of dollars required to send a mining operation through space.
Now of course, the gold would not be evenly distributed throughout the asteroid. It would be geologically concentrated in certain areas that might be rich enough to mine (though many of the geological actions that concentrate gold here on Earth require water, and would not be active on an asteroid). So there might be some spots that are profitable to mine, but only if you ignore the astronomical costs of space travel.
The numbers are misleading because of the volume considered. Surely there is more gold on Earth total (even though the asteroid has a higher concentration of metals), but we can only access a very small portion of the Earth close to the surface.
Sadly, Newt's moon plan is actual lunacy, both in terms of the time-frame and the idea that you could somehow do it for free. Is private industry really going to establish a moon base at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars for some kind of Lindbergh prize, with no conceivable business model?
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Pillar of the Community
Japan
666 Posts |
it's about time to launch expedition to Eros )))
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Moderator
 Australia
16850 Posts |
It doesn't really matter how much gold is floating around out there, if it's too darned expensive to go out and get it.
With present technologies, mining the asteroids for gold would cost around $50,000/ounce. That's less economically viable than extraction from seawater, but more viable than nuclear transmutation. All three of them are pie-in-the-sky dreams that are going to remain real-world impractical until and unless we discover some kind of hyperscience that suddenly makes them affordable (such as cheap safe nuclear fusion). Earth is currently a net exporter of gold into space (in electronic components and as anti-static shielding on space probes), and it's likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.
Eros is an S-class (stony) asteroid, with very low metal content. There are far richer rocks out there - some are virtually pure nickel-iron - and, provided you're not in some sort of hurry, they're not that much harder to get to than Eros.
When they eventually get around to mining the asteroids, they'll be after aluminium, titanium, iron, silicon, water... the things they'd need out there to build, fuel and power their spaceships and space colonies. Precious metals will be an accidental by-product, which they'd probably find a use for up there rather than waste all their energy shipping it down here.
Then there's the politics of it all. Don't get the asteroid miners mad, or they might take the attitude, "You don't like the way we mine asteroids? Then mine them yourself!"... and send a few million tons of unrefined rock hurtling our way.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Sometimes the journey and knowledge you gain along the way, exceeds the cost....
Is it realalistic absolutey not. Do I figure I will ever own a gold coin which is compossed of gold from Eros 433 in my lifetime, heck no....
But eventually man will tap into these new frontiers as it is just in our nature. To boldly go where no man has gone before. Where have I heard that saying before, lol....
Spock may say it is illogical to attempt too mine Eros or others like it one day, but he also said "Live long an prosper"
Edited by Silverhawk74
01/28/2012 12:20 pm
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Valued Member
United States
306 Posts |
Neat to hear about that space rock, thanks for posting.
Oh and Captain, are you available to crunch numbers for taxes?
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Valued Member
United States
333 Posts |
Even if we could mine Eros, it doesn't make sense to me to spend time and energy collecting gold in space. If, in the future, we have a base on another planet, I do not think it would make sense that gold would be highly valued as a commodity there in comparison to other things enough to transport it. In fact, beyond certain equipment uses, I see no use of us transporting something as heavy as gold through space.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Buffalo, you are forgetting nothing has weight in space, lol....
Gold an other pm's have much technical applications, many of which probably have not even been discovered yet by humans very possibly. For all we know, there will be a future machine that converts PM into fuel for long distance space travel who knows....
I can promise you one thing without any need for debate. Humans if they find something of any value here on Earth or anywhere in the graspng distance, they will tap every possible resource that there is left to ZERO remains, with no concern about the future. Like one lady said on history channel in reference to the lost civilation of Easter Island....
"What exactly was the fellow who cut down the last tree on that Island thinking?"
Obama is evevn talking about landing on an asteroid by 2025. The information learned an gained could possibly save our species one day, as it is just a matter of time until another major asteroid impacts Earth....
It was just the turn of last century, that a huge asteroid exploded in the sky above the Siberian forest, and if it had exploded over a major metropolise, it would have wiped it off the face of the planet. The asteroid that hit close to Mexico that they claim wiped out dino's 65 million years ago, had so much force that it instantly evaporated every living thing within a 250 mile radious apon impact. They were the lucky ones. The rest died a slow painful starving dearth in most cases, minus being reptile or the shrew of man....
Edited by Silverhawk74
01/28/2012 1:12 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
Just as soon as we stop squandering all our resources on killing each other, we will discover that: 1) the solar system contains a LOT of valuable goodies; and 2) it will be possible to get out there and harvest a lot of it. Might need to use robotic craft in the really harsh environments, though. It will also be very expensive to do this but, as with most other things, it will get cheaper as we learn how to do it more efficiently. Mining on the moon is not that far-fetched. It has enough gravity to be useful yet not so much that landing and launching space craft is too difficult to do. It is smaller than the Earth but it is 100% dry land, so no ocean coverage to worry about. It is also closer to the Earth than any other extra-terrestrial body, so does not require a huge amount of time and fuel to get there. Furthermore, it is likely that just about everything inorganic that exists on Earth will also exist on the moon and probably in similar ratios as well.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 4,857 |
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Posted 01/28/2012 12:16 am
