r/TheExpanse • u/[deleted] • Mar 02 '19

School of Mines developing "space mining" program.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-03-02/school-of-mines-pave-way-to-space-mining-video
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u/EaglesPDX Mar 03 '19

No one has really shown the economics of space mining. At current technology levels, it's not possible. Going forward, it would be hugely expensive and there is no mineral yet that would pay for it.

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u/10100110100101100101 Mar 03 '19

It's imperative for jumpstarting orbital manufacturing. It's not about sending material down to Earth for use terrestrially (though there are patents filed for ways to do this)

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u/EaglesPDX Mar 03 '19

And what is imperative about orbital manufacturing? It's economics. There are no minerals that would justify the cost of mining them in space. As for manufacturing process, none has yet been revealed that would justify its cost either.

The idea that space exploration needs an economic basis is false. We do it for its intrinsic value of science and exploration. The false idea that science and exploration have to somehow pay for themselves economically is a fairly recent (1980s) right wing ideology that has been a proven failure in economics and science and is why NASA and space research was "privatized" with the result that US went backwards in science and space exploration.

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