Weekend Project for the Super Rich? Space Mining Trillion Dollar Asteroids
Life (on Earth) is not fair. I’ve always known this, but now the "Super Rich" get to stake claims in Space by grabbing TRILLION DOLLAR SPACE ROCKS that are just hanging out there waiting to be plucked from the heavens.
"And the meek shall inherit the Earth.....but the Super Rich shall inherit the galaxy"....
Planetary Resources "A Space Mining Company", which is backed by some of the biggest money on our planet (Google VIP's, Ross Perot JR), have BIG plans – to mine trillions and trillions of dollars of precious metals from asteroids nearest to our planet.
Just what kinds of rocks are out there? Well for starters meet Amun 3554. Not Much of a name is it? Well when your worth 20 TRILLION dollars you can be called whatever you want.
AMUN 3554
Successfully space mining this asteroid could (will) turn Planetary Resources into the richest company in the world (galaxy?). This "low hanging fruit" of an asteroid, which is "easier to get to than the moon", holds 8 trillion dollars worth of platinum, 8 trillion dollars worth of Iron and nickel, and over 6 trillion worth of cobalt. Think about it...there are millions and millions of asteroids in our galaxy...
Planetary Resources will start out with "Space telescopes" that will be deployed starting as soon as 2013. From information gathered they will determine the best course of action to obtain these space rocks using space mining robots. One theory is to pull the asteroids closer to Earth and use some of these LEO spaceplanes (DreamChaser or Falcon X Dragon) to cary loads. Ever see an 18 Wheeler jacknife? Imagine the call to houston if that space rock gets loose while dragging it close to Earth..."Um Houston we have a problem, looks like the hitch came loose and Amun is headin straight for Canada"..
The intentions of these heavyweight space rock investors appear to be good; to increase the overall GDP on earth and more importantly, to make deep space travel possible, by utilizing the resources that are out there. For example, it is reported that it costs $20,000 per liter of water to ship it into space (off of Earth). Planetary Resources plans to mine water off of asteroids and hold it in LEO for later use. Along with water they will grab fuel and precious metals. But that doesn't mean they won't make a buck or two along the way...
