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Re:SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond ... by gozur88 on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @07:13PM (#13759648)
There was never any reason to spend that kind of money. It was worth going to the moon once to see what was there, but I have yet to see anybody articulate a reason to go back that doesn't rely on soaring rhetoric and implausible money-making schemes.
Re:SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond ... by bdamm on Wednesday March 01, 2017 @02:07AM (#13761879)
Rare-earth mineral security?
Re:SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond ... by gozur88 on Wednesday March 01, 2017 @01:17PM (#13766565)
Rare-earth minerals aren't actually rare. The name comes from the relatively low concentrations in which you find them naturally. But we won't run out; they're just more expensive to refine as we tap lower concentration sources. Even poor sources are going to yeild minerals at a cost that's a few orders of magnitude less than a what you'd get on the moon.
Re:SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond ... by Retric on Wednesday March 01, 2017 @08:55AM (#13763618)
Rare-earth means low concentrations. There is still a lot of this stuff in the darts crust an it's not destroyed with use.