Factories in Space

Re:Factories in Space by pnut on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @01:02PM (#36127365)

I've come to the opposite conclusion, that taking heavy industry off planet is a godsend, because it allows capitalism's stagnating growth curve, fuelled by resource extraction with no regard to externalities, to plausibly continue indefinitely, with no environmental consequences - and the wealth poured back onto earth.

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Re:Factories in Space by mym1990 on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @01:27PM (#36127712)

You mean: “and the wealth poured back into Bezos pockets”.

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Re:Factories in Space by bequanna on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @05:00PM (#36130737)

Wealth isn’t a zero sum game.

New resources, new ideas, new efficiencies benefit all of us.

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Re:Factories in Space by mym1990 on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @05:52PM (#36131441)

Sure, my comment was a bit hyperbolic, but 'all of us' is certainly far from the truth as well.

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Re:Factories in Space by antifa on Thursday June 01, 2023 @10:52AM (#36151851)

Just because the pie is getting bigger doesn't mean our slices aren't getting smaller.

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Re:Factories in Space by ianburrell on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @07:20PM (#36132501)

Heavy industry will never move to space because it doesn't make sense economically. The main reason is that they are made in huge quantities that make it impossible to transport. Space elevators are pretty limited in quantity, think of them as a single rail line.

Concrete is most made material and its components come from Earth. It is used on Earth. It is made in such quantities that it is produced locally because it infeasible to transport it long distances. Wood comes from Earth, used on Earth, and makes no sense to manufacture in space.

Chemical industry is another good example, where a lot of the source materials come from Earth (nitrogen, petroleum, gas). All of the processes are designed to work in atmosphere and under gravity. My guess is that nitrogen-based chemicals will be shipped to space for a long time.

Steel is made in huge quantities, with ore trains, ore ships, and giant steel factories. My guess is that even had a free iron asteroid in space, that wouldn't make sense to mine it because getting the results down would be too expensive.

Also, there is a lot of large-scale manufacturing that wouldn't make sense to move because the result is used on Earth. Ship building is a prime example where building anywhere other than next to body of water doesn't make sense. Complex objects also have a lot of parts which means shipping them to space or moving the whole supply chain.

The exception is industry being used for use in space.

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