Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from hogtown.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Fri, 28 Jun 91 02:04:45 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 28 Jun 91 02:04:37 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #730 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 730 Today's Topics: Re: Excavating (minig) gold in the space by NASA. SPACE Digest V13 #608 Re: An International Civil Space Agency 93 Re: Astro-Nugget worth $$$ trillions SPACE Digest V13 #614 Re: Excavating (minig) gold in the space by NASA. Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription requests, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 11 Jun 91 21:06:51 GMT From: cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!crd.ge.com@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Kenneth J Meltsner) Subject: Re: Excavating (minig) gold in the space by NASA. [...stuff deleted...] |>>>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the |>>>Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It |>>>apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well |>>>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated |>>>worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. |> |>This might be one of the first real applications of Space technology. I say |>NASA should issue stocks to built a space craft to go and bring that thing |>down. This could open up another very lucrative investment, a side from |>satellites. The technology we gain could help us mine other things in the |>space too. Then, boldly going were no man has gone before makes business |>sense to. |> |>I assume this could be possible if the price of gold goes much higher. Let us |>forget about mars and concentrate on this, for now. After all, who needs cheap |>marsian dart. If you'd like some 1 ppm gold ore, I can probably get you some dirt cheap right here on Earth. In fact, while I don't have any specific numbers handy, there's probably at least 1 ppm gold in sea salt. 10 ppm platinum is a bit better, but still not enough to make me want to get involved, even if the material were free, lying on the ground. I hope someone at the Washington Post knows how stupid this is. =============================================================================== Ken Meltsner | meltsner@crd.ge.com (518) 387-6391 GE Research and Development Center | Fax: (518) 387-7495 P.O. Box 8, Room K1/MB207 | Nothing I say should be attributed Schenectady, NY 12301 | to my employer, and probably vice-versa =================Dep't of Materials Science, ACME Looniversity================= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Jun 91 20:13 EST From: USF@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #608 X-Envelope-To: space+%andrew.cmu.edu@msu.edu Hello! from the United Space Federation, Inc. An International Civil Space Agency By 1993, An Idea Whose Time Has Come! This is our ticket to the solar system ( Mars by 2010! yep) Would you like to be added to our (E-Mail) support group? Thanks! O O ^ The Space Man! :...: Rick R. Dobson Executive Director and Founder United Space Federation, Inc. P.S. This is for real!! No joke!! :-I X-News: vax5 sci.space:8198 >From: space-request+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU >Subject:SPACE Digest V13 #608 >Date: 6 Jun 91 07:30:55 GMT >Message-ID:<9106070030.AA01190@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> >Subject: Mars Info Requests > >>I am about to embark on an endeavour to aquire as much information as I >>can about Mars, Future Mars Missions, Theories and Proposals for Colonization >>and or Exploration of our sister planet. > >I hope it doesn't muck up your plans too much, but Mars is not our sister >planet. Venus is. > >Tom >Acknowledge-To: <18084TM@MSU> ------------------------------ Date: 11 Jun 91 03:57:59 GMT From: ucivax!p4tustin!ofa123!David.Anderman@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (David Anderman) Subject: Re: An International Civil Space Agency 93 Great. More space bureaucrats. -- David Anderman Internet: David.Anderman@ofa123.fidonet.org Compuserve: >internet:David.Anderman@ofa123.fidonet.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 11 Jun 91 20:34:24 GMT From: news-server.csri.toronto.edu!qucis!akerman@uunet.uu.net (Richard Akerman) Subject: Re: Astro-Nugget worth $$$ trillions In article <1991Jun07.195647.2496@socrates.umd.edu> mike@socrates.umd.edu (mike santangelo (UNIX/VMS Sys Staff)) writes: > >From the Washington Post, June 7, 1991 (y114#184), p. A11: > > Nearby Asteroid Worth a Trillion > > " An astronimical El Dorado containing some 10,000 tons of > gold and 100,000 tons of platinum has been found orbiting > the sun tantalizingly close to Earth, according to a report > in today's issue of Science. > Asteroid 1986 DA, as the solid metal ''near-Earth-object'' is > known is 1.2 miles wide and shaped roughly like a canned ham. I just thought I would clear up one minor detail with the post. When asteroids are discovered they are given provisional numbers in the form of the year of discovery followed by two letters indicating the half-month and order of discovery. Asteroid 1986 DA was, therefore, discovered in 1986, in the second half of February. The fact that asteroids contain vast amounts of valuable metals has also been known for some time, see Drexler, K.E. (1987). _Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology_ (New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday), pp. 88-89, 123, 257. Lewis, J.S. & R.A. Lewis (1987). _Space Resources_. (New York: Columbia University Press). O'Leary, B. (1977). Mining the Apollo and Amor asteroids. _Science_ 197, 363-366. I would speculate that the recent report in _Science_, which I haven't yet seen, contains new spectrophotmetric measurements. On a slightly related note, a letter in the May/June '91 _Planetary Report_ (Vol. XI, #3, p. 3) indicates that asteroid 1989 ML is easier to reach (energetically speaking) than the previously favour 1982 DB, which I believe was energetically easier to reach than the Moon. Richard Akerman Incompetent Physics Graduate Student Currently Under the Weather ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Jun 91 20:56 EST From: USF@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #614 X-Envelope-To: space+%andrew.cmu.edu@msu.edu An International Civil Space Agency By 1993, An Idea Whose Time Has Come! Hello!, from the United Space Federation,Inc. Would you like to be added to our ( E-Mail ) support group? Thanks O O ^ The Space Man! :...: Rick R. Dobson Executive Director and Founder United Space Federation, Inc. P.S. This is for real!, No joke!! :-I X-News: vax5 sci.space:8225 >From: space-request+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU >Subject:SPACE Digest V13 #614 >Date: 7 Jun 91 07:52:49 GMT >Message-ID:<9106072304.AA06764@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> >R: Asteroid mining > > s> started. Take nickel. It's current price is around $1/lb. With > s> a typical Nickel Asteroid, you could sell it for $.05/lb, and > s> still make a klilling. (Do you know how much nickel would be in > s> an asteroid 1km wide?). Could any mining company compete? More > s> importantly, could we get them to invest? > >>Your points are well taken. Take a moment to think, however, about >>the political flak we'll get from the mining unions when we start >>to take jobs away from them! We would definitely have to get the > >Think of the flak the union will get when we offer the guys exotic >work, guaranteed jobs, and good pay (easy to do, in times of actual >economic growth). > >>mining unions, in any case, involved. I don't know if you could >>get the mining companies themselves to invest, mostly due to short- >>sightedness. > >Actually, mining companies are one of the few businesses that can't >survive on short-sightedness (I learned that the average company has >ONE mine out of a thousand prospects that makes money, and has to cover the >cost of the others that don't come through. About 10 just pay for >themselves, and 50 make too little money to pay for themselves. The >rest are false starts and no-gos). But you may still be right about >moving from Earth to space, thought your average stony-iron 'stroid, >with about 7% metal would still be better by 1000 times any ore left >on Earth. That could make a difference. > >Tom >Acknowledge-To: <18084TM@MSU> ------------------------------ Date: 12 Jun 91 00:55:03 GMT From: taco!news!ivan%nepjt@mcnc.org (Ivan Maldonado) Subject: Re: Excavating (minig) gold in the space by NASA. In article <1991Jun11.222221.23488@cbfsb.att.com> rizzo@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (anthony.r.rizzo) writes: : [stuff deleted about mining gold in the outer space] : > What a great idea. Then, were we to succeed, the price of gold > would be so low that we might actually be able to replace > aluminum siding with it. Imagine how long gold siding would last. > And we wouldn't have to worry about anyone stealing it, since > no one would want it. > > Tony Under the above-suggested circumstances: Actually, the advantages due to gold's great conductivity properties could also be used to significantly reduce the electric power losses during its transmission (i.e., replace copper with gold in transmission lines). ===> goes the forecast of an electric energy crisis... :-) -Ivan -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Guillermo Ivan Maldonado | Internet: ivan@nepjt.ncsu.edu | | Dept. of Nuclear Engineering | BITNET : maldonado@ncsune | | North Carolina State University |------------------------------------- | NCSU Box # 7909 | Go USA !! (1994 host to the WC) | | Raleigh. NC 27695-7909 | ..How many jobs ya' got MON!? | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #730 *******************