Space Thread
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DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:39 am
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
What are they likely to find in asteroids that is hard to come by on Earth? Iron? This planet is made from the stuff. Nickel, maybe? We're not desperate enough, yet, to be producing nickel at 100 x the current cost. Gold? Platinum? On Earth, those precipitate out of aqueous solutions so the chance of them occurring in asteroids is slim to zero.
This planet has had most minerals diluted when the Earth was molten. They rarely occur in heavy concentrations, so mining and purifying is expensive. Gold, silver and platinum also require extremely toxic chemicals in the mining process.
Whereas, asteroids may be pure iron. Very little mining or refining needed. Just hack a chunk off, melt it down. Iridium is so rare, it only occurs in a very thin line everywhere in Earth's crust, as it was deposited my a meteor impact. So, somewhere out there are asteroids made of pure iridium!
Any element heavier than iron formed in the explosion of a supernova, so the likelihood of asteroids with heavy concentrations of heavy metals is high because they never crashed into a molten planet and mixed with all the other elements to form minerals. Much of our solar system remains the same as it did when the supernova that created all the material we're made of exploded. It might take billions to get the asteroids, but they will reap many trillions in materials.
Jabberwalker @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:53 am
$1:
Whereas, asteroids may be pure iron. Very little mining or refining needed. Just hack a chunk off, melt it down.
... except that, it will be so ridiculously expensive to get it here that it my be competitive with making pure iron in nuclear reactors.
DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:10 am
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
$1:
Whereas, asteroids may be pure iron. Very little mining or refining needed. Just hack a chunk off, melt it down.
... except that, it will be so ridiculously expensive to get it here that it my be competitive with making pure iron in nuclear reactors.
If business sees it as cost effective, who are we to say 'no'? And think of the cost involved to build a starship . . . is it cheaper to mine the Earth and fire rockets to carry the materials to orbit to build the ship - or capture a few asteroids that come close to Earths orbit and melt them down in orbit?
It costs about $10,000 per pound to put things in low earth orbit. How much would a space ship cost to launch from the ground as parts, vs how much would an asteroid cost to capture?
Someone thinks it's worthwhile:
http://www.planetaryresources.com/
Jabberwalker @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:18 am
There are promoters everywhere of every gee-whizz technology that comes to mind.
Want to buy shares in my Cold Fusion Reactor?
... how about my Polywater plant?
Perpetual motion is so passé, n'est-ce pas?
DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:24 am
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
There are promoters everywhere of every gee-whizz technology that comes to mind.
Want to buy shares in my Cold Fusion Reactor?
... how about my Polywater plant?
Perpetual motion is so passé, n'est-ce pas?
Want to buy shares in my Cold Fusion Reactor?
... how about my Polywater plant?
Perpetual motion is so passé, n'est-ce pas?
Have you even been employed by NASA as a specialist in planetary rover robotics, been an adviser to two US presidents, been an Astronaut, or taught Planetary Physics at MIT like those people have?
No?
K.
Jabberwalker @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:29 am
No ... but I'm a manufacturer in a private enterprise business that has to produce good working products at a profit and I am VERY SKEPTICAL about the profitability of mining asteroids. The boffins can sell cool, geeky ideas to each other over the comic book racks but ultimately, they will have to convince someone somewhat like me that it is a good business decision to do so. That, you will find to be very difficult unless there are striking advantages to mining asteroids. You had better find one that is made of pure platinum or tungsten.
... and you wonder why NASA budgets are being gutted ...
ShepherdsDog @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:43 am
There`s a shitload of precious metals floating around in orbit in space junk. We can`t even salvage that, so harvesting asteroids is something we`ll be doing in the far future rather than in the near future
DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:49 am
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
The boffins can sell cool, geeky ideas to each other over the comic book racks but ultimately, they will have to convince someone somewhat like me that it is a good business decision to do so.
Are you Eric Schmidt? (Google)
K. Ram Shriram? (Indian Venture Capitalist)
Larry Page? (Google)
Ross Perot, Jr.? (The Perot Companies)
Sir Richard Branson? (Virgin Galactic)
Because those are some of the people already investors in the company. I don't think they need money from you or I.
DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:51 am
ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:
There`s a shitload of precious metals floating around in orbit in space junk. We can`t even salvage that, so harvesting asteroids is something we`ll be doing in the far future rather than in the near future
I've often thought some smart guy could make a good living at retrieving or servicing some of those. Didn't the Soviets have a secret manned space station up there that they abandoned?
Jabberwalker @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:51 am
Hey. They can go for it! It's their money. I will believe it when I see a space craft take off. Until then, it is part of their tax accounting.
DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 11:20 am
$1:
This is the deepest into space anyone has ever seen
Using a naturally-existing zoom lens in space, the Hubble telescope has taken the deepest look into a cluster of galaxies ever taken in space to grab these pictures of galaxy cluster Abell 2744.
Using a naturally-existing zoom lens in space, the Hubble telescope has taken the deepest look into a cluster of galaxies ever taken in space to grab these pictures of galaxy cluster Abell 2744.
http://io9.com/this-is-the-deepest-into ... 1497018925
DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 12:16 pm
stratos stratos:
Although space storms can be damaging, they can be beautiful as well: Be on the watch for enhanced northern lights over the next couple of nights. To get the auroral forecast for your area, check out the maps at SpaceWeatherLive.com. And for cool views of the aurora, keep an eye on SpaceWeather.com.
Click the link to see the photo
Click the link to see the photo
The CME has delayed the launch of the private space truck 'Antares' to resupply the ISS.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stati ... s2Rx_RDs3u
Canadian_Mind @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 12:31 pm
Cool. Morgan's been wanting to see an Aurora since she moved in, but we just haven't had the intensity and frequency we had here last year. 
Here's hoping it isn't overcast.
DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 12:48 pm
Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:
Cool. Morgan's been wanting to see an Aurora since she moved in, but we just haven't had the intensity and frequency we had here last year. Here's hoping it isn't overcast.
Here's hoping it isn't overcast.Should be in the next 3 days. CMEs are quick, but still take time to reach us.
DrCaleb @ Wed Jan 08, 2014 1:35 pm
Mars rover 'Opportunity' starts the 10th year of it's 90 day mission:
$1:
Decade-old rover adventure continues on Mars and Earth
(Phys.org) —Eighth graders didn't have Facebook or Twitter to share news back then, in January 2004. Bekah Sosland, 14 at the time, learned about a NASA rover landing on Mars when the bouncing-ball video on the next morning's Channel One news in her Fredericksburg, Texas, classroom caught her eye.
"I wasn't particularly interested in space at the time," she recalled last week inside the spacecraft operations facility where she now works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "I remember I was talking with friends, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed this thing bouncing and rolling on a red surface. I watched as it stopped and opened up, and it had this rover inside."
That animation portrayed how NASA landed the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity three weeks apart, using airbags to cushion the impact at the start of the missions, planned to last for three months. Spirit reached Mars on Jan. 4, 2004, Universal Time (Jan. 3, PST) and worked for six years. Opportunity landed on Jan. 25, UT (Jan. 24, PST) and is still exploring, with Sosland now on the team planning what it does each day.
"I watched that news and said, 'This is amazing: a rover on another planet!' Gears started turning in my head that day about engineering and space—thinking about a career. It was definitely a milestone in my life and something I'll always remember."
On her path to that career, high-school teacher Brett Williams in Fredericksburg inspired her to build real rockets, and she completed a 2013 engineering degree from the University of Texas, Austin. But nobody in 2004 was predicting that either Spirit or Opportunity might still be roving Mars in summer 2013, which is when Sosland joined JPL.
"I certainly never thought I'd have an opportunity to work on Opportunity," she said. "That only became possible because this mission has been going so incredibly long. The reason Opportunity has worked so long is the people who built it and operate it. I'm loving that I can be a part of this team now."
Most of the engineers who operated Spirit and Opportunity during the three-month prime missions in 2004 have switched to other projects, including later Mars spacecraft. Sosland is among several on Opportunity's team today who were in school a decade ago.
(Phys.org) —Eighth graders didn't have Facebook or Twitter to share news back then, in January 2004. Bekah Sosland, 14 at the time, learned about a NASA rover landing on Mars when the bouncing-ball video on the next morning's Channel One news in her Fredericksburg, Texas, classroom caught her eye.
"I wasn't particularly interested in space at the time," she recalled last week inside the spacecraft operations facility where she now works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "I remember I was talking with friends, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed this thing bouncing and rolling on a red surface. I watched as it stopped and opened up, and it had this rover inside."
That animation portrayed how NASA landed the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity three weeks apart, using airbags to cushion the impact at the start of the missions, planned to last for three months. Spirit reached Mars on Jan. 4, 2004, Universal Time (Jan. 3, PST) and worked for six years. Opportunity landed on Jan. 25, UT (Jan. 24, PST) and is still exploring, with Sosland now on the team planning what it does each day.
"I watched that news and said, 'This is amazing: a rover on another planet!' Gears started turning in my head that day about engineering and space—thinking about a career. It was definitely a milestone in my life and something I'll always remember."
On her path to that career, high-school teacher Brett Williams in Fredericksburg inspired her to build real rockets, and she completed a 2013 engineering degree from the University of Texas, Austin. But nobody in 2004 was predicting that either Spirit or Opportunity might still be roving Mars in summer 2013, which is when Sosland joined JPL.
"I certainly never thought I'd have an opportunity to work on Opportunity," she said. "That only became possible because this mission has been going so incredibly long. The reason Opportunity has worked so long is the people who built it and operate it. I'm loving that I can be a part of this team now."
Most of the engineers who operated Spirit and Opportunity during the three-month prime missions in 2004 have switched to other projects, including later Mars spacecraft. Sosland is among several on Opportunity's team today who were in school a decade ago.
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-nasa-veter ... tml#inlRlv
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