karl
February 13th, 2013, 03:52 PM
The planet's population will undoubtedly be disappointed to watch £125bn sail back off into space this Friday, but experts have said mining the massive rock is impossible.
"Unfortunately, the path of the asteroid is tilted relative to Earth, requiring too much energy to chase it down for mining," Deep Space Industries (DSI) said.
Ready or not for actual asteroid mining missions, DSI is quite ready to project the value to be found in these giant space rocks.
"If the asteroid approaching Earth contains five per cent recoverable water, that alone – in space as rocket fuel – might be worth as much as $65 billion.
"If 10 per cent of its mass is easily recovered iron, nickel and other metals, that could be worth – in space as building material – an additional $130 billion," said chairman Rick Tumlinson in a statement.
DSI plans to send its first probes to scout Near Earth Objects (NEOs) in 2015, to be followed by larger probes in 2016, which will sample NEOs and return with the potential space gold to Earth.
This will be followed by actual mining operations beginning in 2020 – if all goes to plan.
Full story and photos here: http://www.express.co.uk/news/science-technology/377465/Earth-skimming-asteroid-worth-more-than-125-Billion
"Unfortunately, the path of the asteroid is tilted relative to Earth, requiring too much energy to chase it down for mining," Deep Space Industries (DSI) said.
Ready or not for actual asteroid mining missions, DSI is quite ready to project the value to be found in these giant space rocks.
"If the asteroid approaching Earth contains five per cent recoverable water, that alone – in space as rocket fuel – might be worth as much as $65 billion.
"If 10 per cent of its mass is easily recovered iron, nickel and other metals, that could be worth – in space as building material – an additional $130 billion," said chairman Rick Tumlinson in a statement.
DSI plans to send its first probes to scout Near Earth Objects (NEOs) in 2015, to be followed by larger probes in 2016, which will sample NEOs and return with the potential space gold to Earth.
This will be followed by actual mining operations beginning in 2020 – if all goes to plan.
Full story and photos here: http://www.express.co.uk/news/science-technology/377465/Earth-skimming-asteroid-worth-more-than-125-Billion