Plasma rocket = 40 day trip to Mars

[Kyle2k]

While I understand the higher level of efficiency and innovation the private sector provides, I have no real faith in it to get things done when no or only a small profit margin is present.

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by Kyle2k

While I understand the higher level of efficiency and innovation the private sector provides, I have no real faith in it to get things done when no or only a small profit margin is present.

Hence the mining operations on asteroids/ the moon. That wasn't a joke There definitely IS some real money to be made by harvesting precious minerals and metals off of those things. I agree with you though, if there isn't enough money in it the private sector won't thrive. Which is exactly why we need to find a significantly cheaper way to get IN to space.

[DGthe3]

Hate to break it to you guys but space mining is a distant dream. Lets say an operation could bring back 5 tons of pure gold (the largest mine in the world only produces about 60 tons a year). That would be worth a little less than $200M today. That is a very large payload and would be exceedingly difficult to actually produce. But lets assume it is possible for a space mine. Thing is, mining equipment breaks. That means mechanics and technicians need to be on site, with replacement parts. And if you send a mining crew, you will also need people to support them (such as a doctor for when people 'break'). All these people need to be fed and watered for several months. The weight of the stuff required to keep people living that long in a hostile environment with no resupply will be huge, and that is on top of the weight of the spacecraft and mining equipment. It wouldn't be possible to return a shipment for more money than it cost to send the spacecraft, crew, and equipment up in the first place, let alone paying for all the stuff to be made or the crew to be paid. And what if it blows up on the launch pad or crashes into the asteroid or breaks up upon re-entry? All that money gets wasted.

Launch costs need to go down, precious metals need to go up, and spaceflight needs to become safer before the possibility of space mining becomes realistic. In the meantime, lets setup lunar and martian research stations and learn how to live beyond the Earth. Besides, by the time mining asteroids becomes viable, it will probably be more economical to mine municipal garbage dumps and tailing pits from old mines.

[RJBJFIRE]

Works for me... Wish I could come up with this tech...

[AlSuwaidi]

nie read!!

[2001ragtop]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

....Hate to break it to you guys but space mining is a distant dream.....

There is a movie that came out in theaters in 2009 called "Moon" starring Sam Rockwell.

In this movie, he's an astronaut stationed on the moon. he is alone, and robots are mining the moon for Helium-3. The story is based in the "not so distant" future.

The way he sends back what was mined on the moon, is he sends back a payload inside something that looks like a torpedo, back towards earth. (like a small rocket with a payload).

From this perspective, I think mining is possible. In the movie, they do make it look like it is not that easy to travel to the moon, though they can do it. Which is one reason I believe he is stationed there alone.
This was a great movie. It is a mystery type movie. I would recommend to anyone who likes science fiction. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/

Lastly: Advanced Technology falls into our hands on a daily basis. We will be out in space soon enough.

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

Hate to break it to you guys but space mining is a distant dream. Lets say an operation could bring back 5 tons of pure gold (the largest mine in the world only produces about 60 tons a year). That would be worth a little less than $200M today. That is a very large payload and would be exceedingly difficult to actually produce. But lets assume it is possible for a space mine. Thing is, mining equipment breaks. That means mechanics and technicians need to be on site, with replacement parts. And if you send a mining crew, you will also need people to support them (such as a doctor for when people 'break'). All these people need to be fed and watered for several months. The weight of the stuff required to keep people living that long in a hostile environment with no resupply will be huge, and that is on top of the weight of the spacecraft and mining equipment. It wouldn't be possible to return a shipment for more money than it cost to send the spacecraft, crew, and equipment up in the first place, let alone paying for all the stuff to be made or the crew to be paid. And what if it blows up on the launch pad or crashes into the asteroid or breaks up upon re-entry? All that money gets wasted.

Launch costs need to go down, precious metals need to go up, and spaceflight needs to become safer before the possibility of space mining becomes realistic. In the meantime, lets setup lunar and martian research stations and learn how to live beyond the Earth. Besides, by the time mining asteroids becomes viable, it will probably be more economical to mine municipal garbage dumps and tailing pits from old mines.

That's the big one, if we can get launch costs down to a very minimal level space travel will explode. You make valid points, but I will still dream of it Another thing we need to look into is a controlled descent so we don't have to worry as much about large weighty heat shields on our craft. Of course for a quick and easy option, the ships could remain in space and drop the cargo pods for reentry. Then the ship drops by a space station and picks up more cargo pods and heads back to it.

[Buelligun]

Hadn't man better go to the moon first?

[8cd03gro]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

Hate to break it to you guys but space mining is a distant dream. Lets say an operation could bring back 5 tons of pure gold (the largest mine in the world only produces about 60 tons a year). That would be worth a little less than $200M today. That is a very large payload and would be exceedingly difficult to actually produce. But lets assume it is possible for a space mine. Thing is, mining equipment breaks. That means mechanics and technicians need to be on site, with replacement parts. And if you send a mining crew, you will also need people to support them (such as a doctor for when people 'break'). All these people need to be fed and watered for several months. The weight of the stuff required to keep people living that long in a hostile environment with no resupply will be huge, and that is on top of the weight of the spacecraft and mining equipment. It wouldn't be possible to return a shipment for more money than it cost to send the spacecraft, crew, and equipment up in the first place, let alone paying for all the stuff to be made or the crew to be paid. And what if it blows up on the launch pad or crashes into the asteroid or breaks up upon re-entry? All that money gets wasted.

Launch costs need to go down, precious metals need to go up, and spaceflight needs to become safer before the possibility of space mining becomes realistic. In the meantime, lets setup lunar and martian research stations and learn how to live beyond the Earth. Besides, by the time mining asteroids becomes viable, it will probably be more economical to mine municipal garbage dumps and tailing pits from old mines.

Agreed, on everything, but gold would be one of the least mined material on most asteroids. Rhodium, platinum and others would be much more profitable. Anyway, mining isn't really logical and that's neither here nor there. We need to research terraforming, null-g experiments, etc. Because the general public isn't interested in, and frankly doesn't understand the importance of, the developments that could be made, inter-planetary travel doesn't get the attention it should. It's sad.

Originally Posted by Brokinarrow

That's the big one, if we can get launch costs down to a very minimal level space travel will explode. You make valid points, but I will still dream of it Another thing we need to look into is a controlled descent so we don't have to worry as much about large weighty heat shields on our craft. Of course for a quick and easy option, the ships could remain in space and drop the cargo pods for reentry. Then the ship drops by a space station and picks up more cargo pods and heads back to it.

We need the carbon elevator. Time to invest in Zoltek

[Big Brunsy]

I would assume if....I mean WHEN we have space ships capeable of traveling our galaxy we would have a space port where our ships are built, and docked. then you wouldn't need the excessive propultion to break Earth's gravity. Then they would have smaller lander ships to visit other planets.

We just need to find us some Eezo

[dmiller66]

Originally Posted by Buelligun

Hadn't man better go to the moon first?

Haha...my thoughts exactly. We could also use this new rocket technology to fend off attacking zombies!

[tradosaurus]

Originally Posted by Buelligun

Hadn't man better go to the moon first?

Well since we have never made it to the moon and will never be able to because of the van allen radiation belt I agree.

But shhh..... keep it quiet.....

[Big Brunsy]

I say, a bunch of conspiricy theorists in here.....pretty sure if we have a space station then we could easily have went to the moon

You people might also believe in this.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_collision there is plenty other websites that get pretty far fetched saying there are aliens on this planet as well and we are being grown as their slaves to be picked up when it comes back around. if ur into sci-fi maybe u could look around and u conspirists out there can have another scam to fall for

[tradosaurus]

Originally Posted by Big Brunsy

I say, a bunch of conspiricy theorists in here.....pretty sure if we have a space station then we could easily have went to the moon

You people might also believe in this.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_collision there is plenty other websites that get pretty far fetched saying there are aliens on this planet as well and we are being grown as their slaves to be picked up when it comes back around. if ur into sci-fi maybe u could look around and u conspirists out there can have another scam to fall for

We are not!