Re:We Will Never, Ever, Mine the Asteroid Belt
by ehvatum on Friday December 24, 2021 @04:07PM
(#29677742)
A mine to the Earth’s core would be exceedingly rich. Such a mine would be impractical, given the large amount of planet to be bored through.
A large amount of space is more easily traversed. Core material from shattered proto-planets exist in the asteroid belt, unsurrounded by planet. It’s as if some heavenly hammer cracked the thick egg crust imprisoning a cosmic platinate egg, and left that creamy yolk of gooooold for us.
To you as a jeweler in New York City, this is perhaps irrelevant. You’re neither digging to the center of the planet nor are you flying in space.
But people do fly in space. They might need metal and lots of it, some day.
A large amount of space is more easily traversed. Core material from shattered proto-planets exist in the asteroid belt, unsurrounded by planet. It’s as if some heavenly hammer cracked the thick egg crust imprisoning a cosmic platinate egg, and left that creamy yolk of gooooold for us.
To you as a jeweler in New York City, this is perhaps irrelevant. You’re neither digging to the center of the planet nor are you flying in space.
But people do fly in space. They might need metal and lots of it, some day.