SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the hard-to-swing-a-pick-in-zero-G dept.
So, you want to be an asteroid miner?
So [Williams] started talking to Christopher Dreyer, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines' Center for Space Resources, a research and technology development center that's existed within the school for more than a decade.
It was good timing. Because this summer, Mines announced its intention to found the world's first graduate program in Space Resources—the science, technology, policy, and politics of prospecting, mining, and using those resources. The multidisciplinary program would offer Post-Baccalaureate certificates and Masters of Science degrees. Although it's still pending approval for a 2018 start date, the school is running its pilot course, taught by Dreyer, this semester.
The focus seems to be on space colonies mining what they need in place, more than bringing material back to Earth.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:48AM
So, we should just give up at least trying to become a space-faring race because it's too expensive? Or is it only worth it if there are military applications?
Assuming we don't kill ourselves first, there's a big rock, that won't be launched by annoyed asteroid miners, with our name on it that will kill us all one day.
I, for one, would prefer it if at enough people to repopulate (or at least to thrive elsewhere) survive because they were off-planet.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr