Talk:Asteroid mining

message: Deleted almost all of the depletion section, and linked to wikipedia's resource depletion section instead.  That page has a lot more recently sourced and more encyclopedic data Mmcdougall (talk) 01:33, 31 May 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: However, depletion occurs but the price of the metal increases,allowing lower grade material to be mining.  So saying a metal will be exhausted is not accurate.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.111.21.214 (talk) 06:25, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: "metals can be recycled" That's the usual ill-informed eco-zealot nonsense. See Second Law of Thermodynamics, & then explain what you intend to do when the last of the metals is gone.  TREKphiler any time you're ready, Uhura 10:58, 12 March 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Recycling is ultimately just a matter of how much energy you're willing to put into the process. Right now, with the current price of materials and the current price of energy, it doesn't make sense to recycle most things (with aluminum being the main exception). As material prices rise, and as energy prices fall in the future - or at least availability of energy rises (solar, fusion) - it will start to make sense to recycle more things. As rarity increases, it eventually makes sense to recycle almost everything, even with the huge amounts of energy you have to expend to do so. — Gopher65talk 13:53, 12 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Depletion of Metals 

message: Looks like this was merger was actually performed some time ago.  Yay. Mmcdougall (talk) 01:34, 31 May 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. — RJH (talk) 14:44, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed Merger with [[Space Mining]] 

message: I am working on a rough translation of this article so that the one in French can be more than a few sentences long. I hope noone minds.--Freiberg, Let's talk!, contribs 19:45, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Translation 

message: The cited references on the fact that all mined metals here on earth come from asteroides do not back up the claims. The sources only claim the highly siderophile elements and here only a few were tested. Iron and nickel are not tested and not mentioned. The iron silicates make up large proportion of basalt (olivine) so it is not in the core.--Stone (talk) 21:14, 29 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Lead is wrong

message: If astroids are made up of loose rubble piles. With a lack of wind, water, and gravity to erode the small rubble to dust size pieces. That would mean all of the astroids material would be very sharp and highly erosive. I would assume this to be a major issue to overcome.
--84.213.187.140 (talk) 14:32, 3 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Erosion. 

message: Added a concrete example; ~2.1 ounces, 1.6 billion dollars
doe anyone knows the estimated costs of a retrieval mission ?  would be nice to put some exemples ?--Beaucouplusneutre (talk) 19:47, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: "It has been estimated that the mineral wealth resident in the belt of asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter would be equivalent to about 100 billion dollars for every person on Earth today." (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/resource.html) stevenDP (talk) 10:23, 9 February 2012 (PST)
There is an asteroid mining feasibility study by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/study/asteroid/asteroid_final_report.pdf) that found the cost for a mission to return a 7 meter in diameter asteroid to lunar orbit to be $2.6 billion.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.185.126.209 (talk) 05:38, 26 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mission costs 

message: where does it belong ? the same strategies to avoid can be used for retrieval Asteroid-impact_avoidance#Collision_avoidance_strategies
should i make a new page or put it here ?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Beaucouplusneutre (talk • contribs) 09:32, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  asteroid catching and retrieval 

message: This article could really use more drawings or artist's conceptions of asteroid mining.  I'm adding a  tag.--Beaucouplusneutre 18:21, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  more Image needed -- reqphoto tag added 

message: can we expand a little on that ? does someone knows if they are telescopes ( radio or spectro) that specifically try to detect neos presence and composition ? --Beaucouplusneutre (talk) 20:07, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  neo detection 

message: http://www.asteroidmines.net/--Beaucouplusneutre (talk) 15:58, 17 February 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  nice website with cool pictures 

message: old video of asteroid retrieval mission (2004 ) http://www.planetarydefense.info/resources/sitemap.html# video of lee valentine
the panel is also interesting. does someone have found other video like that ?
idea recommended , transponder and multiple kinetic impact on several neos (for caracterization)
what i would like on wiki is a directory of video about space subjects, so i try to add some, its so much easier to understand the subject.--Beaucouplusneutre (talk) 11:37, 19 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Offhand I don't see an on-wiki video about asteroid retreival, but :Commons:Category:Videos of space exploration and its parents, children, siblings and other kincats have many on space subjects. Jim.henderson (talk) 02:16, 22 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  video 

message: I am aware the phrase asteroid mining is well known and in common usage, and is what I would type if looking for this article. But would mining of other planets and moons be the same scope, would it be included in asteroid mining, if not where would it be included, if yes, should this be article be another title? extra terrestrial mining, maybe?  I see we have In-situ resource utilization but that is using minerals mined in space, in space, if we took those minerals back to Earth it would not be In-situ resource utilization. But it would still be asteroid mining or extraterrestrial mining. Carlwev (talk) 18:23, 17 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Moon/planet mining

message: . --Gravitophoton (talk) 09:31, 11 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text:  -> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25716103 & http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.4450. --Gravitophoton (talk) 09:25, 23 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  elvis equation 

message: The Asteroid mining#Scarcity section seems weirdly worded, a bit like an advertisement. Especially: "Asteroid mining has the potential to provide the world with an unlimited resource of materials"
Skasski (talk) 07:58, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  "unlimited resource of materials" 

message: Bipartisan Legislation Promotes Commercial Space Ventures, , could be important for the article , some more refs are here:  , . --Gravitophoton (talk) 13:26, 16 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  deep space act 2014 

message: I think a discussion of the legal framework and property rights should be added to this article. SarahLawrence Scott (talk) 18:45, 29 August 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Legal Framework 

message: Why doesn't anyone seem to mention that the most obvious reason to mine an asteroid isn't to bring it back to the surface of the Earth, but to move the material to some location either in orbit around the earth or moon where it can be utilized there.  The economics are not in the availability of rare or valuable products, but simply the savings of not needing to launch say several thousand tons of steel to build space stations and ships.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.52.113.7 (talk) 02:53, 27 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Destination... 

message: Where does the editor who wrote this get a one month doubling time and a one kilogram mass for a self-replicating machine instead of a two year doubling time and 100 tons of manufacturing equipment made to endure the outer space environment.  It seems likely WP:OR to me.  - Fartherred (talk) 21:25, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: It has been five days now and no one has provided a citation for what seems to be WP:OR.  It has been four years since Siafu deleted the same uncited text on the 11th of November 2010 at 18:07 hours.  That is time enough.  Do not replace 1 kilogram self replicating machine comments in article without a reference.  - Fartherred (talk) 14:47, 18 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Were self-replicating machines demonstrated?

message: Disruptive links to the redirect, Economics of extraterrestrial resource extraction, have been removed from Colonization of the Moon, Colonization of Mars, and Space habitat.  I have suggested to the author of the redirect, User:N2e, that the redirect itself should be deleted but he would not cooperate making that process more difficult.  So instead I would like to convert the redirect into a DAB page in which readers can choose an article as they wish for information about the economics of extraterrestrial resource extraction: Colonization of the Moon#Economic development, Colonization of Mars#Economics, or Asteroid mining#Economics. I offer a link to my concept of the page at Talk:Economics of extraterrestrial resource extraction.  Check it out and comment if you like.  - Fartherred (talk) 09:23, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Rather, it looks very much like a topic for a separate encyclopedic article, not just for a redirect or dab page. Sources won't be any problem. --JorisvS (talk) 08:44, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: If the title had been an article at the time the links were made, it would have been easy enough to find words and phrases that could be properly linked to it.  If someone has the time to write the article, I approve.  - Fartherred (talk) 14:44, 22 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Replacing redirect with DAB page

message: is that a good ref? Advanceddeepspacepropeller (talk) 08:58, 20 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I'd call Bloomberg News reliable.  TREKphiler any time you're ready, Uhura 20:26, 20 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Costs 

message: Substituted at 08:28, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The last sentence in the "Purpose" reads: "Why extraterrestrials would have resorted to asteroid mining in near proximity to earth, with its readily available resources, has not been explained." Any space creatures (i.e. anyone who has gotten off of a planet and into space and has acquired the materials/skills/technology to survive there permanently) are going to be loathe to land on a planet. The energy and material costs are just too high. And they might not be extraterrestrials. Humans have been around long enough that we could have developed a space faring civilization in the distant past. You might think that if such a thing had happened there would be some evidence of it, but remember, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Pergelator 50.43.36.155 (talk) 22:18, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Aliens 

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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018) 

message: The article begins "Minerals can be mined from an asteroid or spent comet, then used in space for construction materials or taken back to Earth."
Asteroid mining has never been done, as admitted at the end of the same paragraph: 
"Due to the high cost of spaceflight, inaccurate identification of asteroids suitable for mining, and ore extraction challenges, terrestrial mining remains the only means of raw mineral acquisition today."
Hence I propose changing the first sentence to "Minerals would be mined from an asteroid or spent comet, then used in space for construction materials or taken back to Earth."
Tomtul2 (talk) 05:33, 30 March 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks,  Besides following your suggestion I looked at it some more and decided the paragraph was too long, containing detailed lists that ought not be included in the intro. Perhaps we can think of something more useful to put in those paragraphs. Jim.henderson (talk) 00:40, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Introduction assumes Asteroid Mining is practical 

message: The first two paragraphs of the Proposed Mining Projects section read almost like an ad for the company Planetary Resources. It seems to have an implicit bias towards the company, is severely out of date, and in cites primary sources. The later paragraphs have some similar issues. I propose heavily reducing this section until it can be rewritten in a way that is more in-line with WP (Wikipedia Policy).
Some examples:
# "They also plan to create a fuel depot in space by 2020 by using water from asteroids, splitting it to liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for rocket fuel", as I write this it is late 2020 and as far as I am aware no such mission has occurred. This statement is outdated.
# "The plan has been met with skepticism by some scientists, who do not see it as cost-effective, even though platinum is worth $32 per gram and gold $49 per gram as of September 2019", this sentence has an implicit bias. If such a sentence is included it should be done as a specified quote from another party. The article should describe disputes from the perspective of a neutral observer, with an impartial tone: see WP:IMPARTIAL.
By definition it is the nature of this section to be speculative - which makes it difficult to write whilst staying within WP. I do see the merit of such a section, it certainly is exciting for a reader to see how the first steps towards missions such as these are being taken today. That said, I believe such a section should be rewritten to be shorter, more conservative, and less outdated.
If other editors have any input I would like to hear it, perhaps I have been too harsh in my assessment. For now I have simply added an "outdated" tag. PhysicsSean (talk) 21:08, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Proposed Mining Projects" = outdated ad for private companies? 

message: I just removed a  reference to Lewis 1993, that was supporting that a 1 km asteroid wouldmhave 2bn metric tons of iron-nickel ore. There is no Lewis 1993 work in the article, and the other John Lewis (1992/1997/8) works don't mention this detail. Also elsewhere it seems he said that 2bn tons was the total weight of a 1km asteroid, not just the iron-nickel ore (this is mentioned by others, but I can't find where Lewis said it). - LCU ActivelyDisinterested ∆transmissions∆ °co-ords° 11:22, 12 May 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lewis 1993 

message: The main article doesn't mention alternative methods of extraction and refinement of materials mined from asteroids. Using a large, highly focused beam of concentrated sunlight would be able to superheat surface materials and cause them evaporate into space, opening a path to extraction of elements of interest from deeper in the body of the asteroids. Similarly, concentrated sunlight would provide the power needed to operate gigantic mass spectrometers, where a beam of evaporites from the asteroid could be ionized and then separated by mass into different material streams, even down to individual isotopes of the same element- and then directed to some container for capture. A system of such machines around the asteroid could provide power to operate the mining continuously. 2601:89:C701:9190:757E:A76E:2F:340E (talk) 00:16, 13 August 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Asteroid mining methods