Asteroid Mining

General Discussion for all members unrelated to the game
Blunt Force Trauma
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Re: Asteroid Mining

Post by Blunt Force Trauma »

FirBirGir wrote:The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress

Good read if you haven't read it yet. The book describes how ore mined from the moon was delivered to Earth and why it wouldn't be used in reality. Dropping "rocks" onto Earth into uninhabited areas would work, but who's doing the aiming and what if that person decided to aim elsewhere?
Eddy
My first real love with reading sci-fi was Heinlein. I much preferred his earlier books before he started to become too political. I'm sure my young age played a big part. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was excellent. Although, even then, I had a pretty big issue with growing wheat on the moon. . .to export as a crop.
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hitchcockgreen
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Re: Asteroid Mining

Post by hitchcockgreen »

Considering most wheat producing countries have stockpiles that go to rot I'd say wheat would be a pretty poor choice.

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"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." -Albert Einstein
Blunt Force Trauma
Senior member
Posts: 666
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:18 pm
I've played Bz for: Forever
Dm Strat or Missions: DM
Location: North Carolina

Re: Asteroid Mining

Post by Blunt Force Trauma »

Here's a promotional video for asteroid mining.

Also, (first posted over at BZM) I learned of still another hole in the armor for the young earth (6000 year) believers. I do realize that armor looks like a cheese grater at this point in time in human history.

Tumbling asteroids or "Non-principal axis rotators" is an obscure field of study in astrophysics. It essentially states that any asteroid will settle down to a nice non-tumbling rotation; Principal axis rotation, (like the perfect spiral of a thrown American football) over a given time, given its material makeup and shape, no matter how extreme the initial tumble, in which a minimum age can be determined.

Two very interesting, and short (I've clipped past the intro), videos explaining ... (not too mathematically rigorous)

Tumbling asteroids 1

Tumbling asteroids 2
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"To learn who has no confidence in their convictions, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize"
~Voltaire
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