Resolved: The United States Federal Government should mine astoids.

I will get into my arguments of why the USFG should not be mining asteroirds. ===Here on Earth===All the minerals and metals that can be found on asteroids are also found here on Earth, and in sufficient quantities for our needs [1], mining firms estimate that we still have thousands of years left worth of material on Earth. And we continue to find new reserves every year [2]. When it comes to the USA and Rare Earth Elements (REE or REM), we have over 1,300 years supply within our own soil [3]. There are countless more reserves within our oceans [4] and along the bottom of them [5][6][7]. With all these riches right here in our own soil and international waters, there becomes no need to look at higher cost and higher risk operations outside our atmosphere. Speaking of costs, lets go to the next section. ===Cost===The cost to launch the Space Shuttle to space is about $450 million per launch [8]. NASA is making plans for future launching rockets, but even those are years away and will still be $500 million per launch [9] (hopefully). However, the Space Shuttle can only carry 7.3 metric tons [10] of material. So you are paying $61.6 million per ton of stuff brought back. Since this is before processing, most everything is going to be discarded rock, so you will only end up with a few hundred pounds of meaningful material for that $450 million, making it's cost way too expensive when compared to previously given alternatives. The other option would be to contruct the entire mining and processing facility in space, so that the 7.3 tons that you can bring back are completely extracted and pure material. However, you still have to remember that you can only take up 7.3 tons at a time for $450 million. To build a facility would take countless trips and be well outside of what the USFG could afford. ===Better Space Options=== If we are going to be focused on Space, there are still better options than the asteroids. After all, the asteroid belt (when not counting Ceres, which is a Dwarf Planet, not an Asteroid) has an estimated mass of 2.4e21 [11]. But that is strewn over 380,000 TRILLION square kilometers [12]. That is less than 0.1% the mass of the Earth, spread across the surface area of 750,000,000 Earths. What we can do instead, is focus on something that we know exactly where it is and where it will always be. The Moon. The Moon has over 50 times the material of the Asteroid Belt and it is much closer, making it cheaper and faster to get there and back. Over the eons, asteroids have collided with the moon, leaving their material strew all over its surface. Since the moon is geologically dead, that material does not get cycled back into the moon, instead, it just sits on the surface waiting to be picked up. Thorium scans of the moon (one of the REEs and an indicator for the presense of other REEs) show that there may be some opportunity there [13]. These various options show that we do not need to waste money mining asteroids, that we have plenty on Earth and when we do decide to travel further and more populatedly into space, there are better options than Asteroids. I will end with this here and pass it back to my opponent. Thank you,[1] . http://www.wsj.com...;[2] . http://ireport.cnn.com...;[3] . http://www.usgs.gov...;[4] . http://oceanservice.noaa.gov...;[5] . http://www.nature.com...;[6] . http://www.mining.com...;[7] . http://www.upi.com...;[8] . http://www.nasa.gov...;[9] . http://www.space.com...;[10] . http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov...;[11] . http://www.sciencedaily.com...;[12] . http://space-facts.com...;[13] . http://upload.wikimedia.org...;