Record Setting Asteroid Could Be Worth $195 Billion

JonB

Don't Take Crap from Life
Sep 16, 2012
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Record Setting Asteroid Could Be Worth $195 Billion



A Company that wants to mine asteroids has estimated the value of the asteroid 2012 DA14.

The large asteroid set to break records while flying past earth [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121879-Asteroid-Making-Record-Near-Earth-Flyby] is a mine of space construction materials worth as much as $195 billion, according to Deep Space Industries (DSI), a company with the goal of mining asteroids. The metals and propellants in the asteroid are so valuable by virtue of already being in space, but are also currently impossible to mine. If the asteroid contains 5% of its mass as water, that water could be worth as much as $65 billion as propellant for spacecraft, while metals in the asteroid could be worth $130 billion as construction materials. 2012 DA14 is about 50 yards (45 meters) across. According to DSI, 80% of the value is based on how expensive it would be to move tens of thousands of tons of material from earth to space.

Of course, this is all hypothetical. Asteroid 2012 DA14 is on a very fast, very close course past earth - it's far from an ideal asteroid to mine. The rocket to alter its course, and the spacecraft to mine it, don't exist yet. DSI, on the other hand, believes there are other near-Earth asteroids that would be easier to mine, which is why in the coming years it intends to launch a fleet of satellites to explore space and find good candidates, followed by spacecraft to take samples from those asteroids they identify. Asteroids are ideal for mining because minerals are evenly distributed throughout, unlike earth where heavier metals are closer to the core. Asteroids are also rich in rare minerals, like the platinum group metals, which can be found in greater concentrations than on earth. It's also worth noting that, as this frustrated Forbes columnist [http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/02/13/no-asteroid-2021-da14-isnt-worth-195-billion-whatever-deep-space-industries-says/] says, all of this material isn't really worth anything where it is now, because nobody can sell it.

Asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass by earth on February 15 at a distance closer than most global positioning satellites. NASA has said that there is no chance it will impact Earth.

Source: Network World [http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/earth-buzzing-asteroid-could-be-worth-big-bucks-195b-if-we-could-catch-it]
Image: Deep Space Industries [http://deepspaceindustries.com/]


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Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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So then we find a Marker on one of these asteroids and it all begins...
 

1337mokro

New member
Dec 24, 2008
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You know, technically speaking we could bring this asteroid into orbit and construct a base for excavation. The 195 billion is probably an underestimation given that these asteroids are rich in rare metals. It could of course also just be a hunk of frozen sand, but who knows.

At least it would have been nice to have a second moon so that the other planets stop bragging. They keep comparing us to those 2 loser planets stuck close to the sun,
 

Kinitawowi

New member
Nov 21, 2012
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For a few brief seconds I thought this article was going to be about EVE. Anything could happen in that damn game.
 

Eppy (Bored)

Crazed Organist
Jan 7, 2009
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I would just like to point out that a company called Deep Space Industries (DSI) was featured a decade ago in a phenomenal Chris Roberts game called Freelancer. This company owes him some royalties.
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
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Kinitawowi said:
For a few brief seconds I thought this article was going to be about EVE. Anything could happen in that damn game.
No, the game engine does not allow spawning asteroids that are worth 195.000.000.000$ That would mean it has to be worth around 10.335.000.000.000.000.000 ISK, which would mean, taking the most expensive asteroid there would be 297.838.616.714.698 units of Vitreous Mercoxit.
so 1x Modulated Deep Core Strip Miner II can pull 250 units at once, considering we use a hulk with 3 miners on it, you can pull 750 units per 3 minutes. Lets ignore the fact that hulks dont have cargo for it and you would have to use slower ship. Lets be generous and say we got 33% minign time/yeld bonuses from other people in fleet, meaning you mine 1000 units per 3 minutes. That means 20.000 units per hour. and 470.000 units per 23.5 hours (take 0.5 hours for downtime). SO, in order to mine such an asteroid from downtime to downtime you would need a fleet of 633.699.185 people working 23.5 hours. There are less accoutns created in whole eve.
Now, lets say its a grav site spawn so it last for 7 days, you still need 90.528.455 players for this.
Therefore, such asteroid is pretty much impossible in EVE.
 

CrazyCapnMorgan

Is not insane, just crazy >:)
Jan 5, 2011
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"Hey, there's an incoming asteroid that, if it were to theoretically hit the planet, might kill people and distort our atmosphere even further!"

"True, but at least we'll be rich."

Seriously, this love of money goes to ridiculous lengths at times.