Asteroid mining firms aim to raise $20 million in funding. http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-asteroid-miners-20130122,0,5601691.story
A group of private entrepreneurs is hoping to raise $20 million to launch private craft to study and mine on close to 9,000 asteroids close to earth. These asteroids are packed with rare earth metals that are used in everyday products on earth and could greatly increase industry if this enterprise goes off without a hitch. DeepSpace Industries, located in McLean Virginia, plans to launch three "fireflies" by 2015 to investigate and take photos of asteroids closest to earth. By 2016 they hope to launch three "dragonflies" that will mine and collect materials and bring them back to earth for analyzing. If these missions are successful, larger crafts will be built to actually tow some asteroids into earth's orbit to be mined even more extensively.
At first glance this article seems like a load of bologna, who on earth would ever donate any amount of money for "asteroid mining"? It appears to be a pyramid scheme at its finest. But as you dive deeper into the story, it starts to make a bit more sense and not seem so absurd. Sure $20 million is quite a lofty sum, but within the first few years of actual mining and excavating this project could pay itself off. If I were a wealthy businessman I would throw in some money to get this enterprise off the ground (literally). But as I am just your everyday 15 year old high school student, me donating any bit of money is only a distant thought. I do hope this mission is successful and helps out the US' industry and economy.
The article at first seems to have the potential for being a grade A scam but reading it I agree with you that this could be very beneficial to our economy. As we continue to use more and more of our natural resources we are going to have to start looking to new places for these resources, asteroids might be the answer to that. I think the idea is very interesting and although costly indeed it could be very beneficial. With the vast amounts of good that could come from this if it is successful I am surprised more companies are not experimenting with this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Mitch. While I was reading this article I couldn't help thinking that "asteroid mining" reminded me of the movie Armageddon. Maybe they will get Bruce Willis to operate a "dragonfly," anything is possible. Also when I first read this article, I thought it was ridiculous for anyone to invest in "asteroid mining." After seeing the intent for this type of mining, hopefully this project is fulfilled to better improve our nation's economy.
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