NASA wants to uncover the mystery behind the asteroid “16 Psyche.” that may contain a priceless treasure trove of minerals. “We’ve been to all the different planets, we’ve been to other asteroids. But we’ve never visited a body that has been made of entirely metal,” said Carol Polanskey, project scientist for the Psyche mission. Now NASA, led by researchers at Arizona State University, plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to orbit 16 Psyche – an asteroid roughly the size of Massachusetts, made of iron and other precious metals. The mission’s leader estimates that the iron alone on today’s market would be worth $10,000 quadrillion.
Previously: NASA Selects Two Missions to Visit Asteroids
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Friday January 20 2017, @04:26AM
What better way to get Trump and the neocons (both Dems and Reps) to invest in space tech than show them the sheckels that can be made. People only care so much about a 'maybe' when it comes to risk of something bad happen, but people care a lot about risk of something good happening.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday January 20 2017, @04:50AM
Sorry, bro. I've know you've taken a cue from the NPR playbook, but you're going to have to be more on-topic if you want to successfully derail discussions.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Friday January 20 2017, @07:24AM
My definition of a great Isreal is just like a great Saudi Arabia. I would prefer a world with both of them as glass. Trumperoid would solve both issues.
Unsure why you feel astroid exploitation is a problem though. Free market/greed tend to decide a lot of things, wealth in the stars makes it easier for us to get to the stars. Asteroid exploitation will work much better when it comes to colonizing Mars or some of Jupiter's moons. Tacking down how to capure an asteroid of any size will do well toward figuring out how to deflect them, with a bonus of being much better funded. Unsure how trying to trick people into funding asteroid detection and reflection is derailing a thread where you bitched about exploitation stealing resources for detect/reflect. The two go hand in hand.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam