Next Door to Mars is Psyche - An Asteroid Worth Quadrillions

Psyche is a metal asteroid thought to be the naked core of a planetoid. The metal it contains is worth quadrillions of dollars.



Would it be possible to drag it into an orbit around Mars and mine it. That would be a good reason to build a space station in Mars' orbit or even a base on Mars. Could this be why private companies want to go to Mars? That is a lot of money!



Could there be a danger of it getting out of control and hitting Earth? Just think of the damage a big metal asteroid could do to Earth.



NASA is planning a mission to Psyche in 2023.



Here are some links with more information.

www.popsci.com...

sese.asu.edu...

www.space.com...

Do you think it could be mined? The thought of that large of a chunk of metal blows my mined

Do you think it could be mined?

Sure. Someday.
When we're much better at interplanetary travel. At this point it's probably not cost effective, given the market price of iron on Earth.

Once the technology has progressed to where it's financially feasible for companies to mine in outer space, best believe they will. Greed knows no terrestrial limit.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

My guess is that by the time any humans might be able to get to this asteroid and mine it, human technology will have already reached a point that metal will be obsolete.

originally posted by: Phage

Do you think it could be mined?

Sure. Someday. When we're much better at interplanetary travel. At this point it's probably not cost effective, given the market price of iron on Earth.

Makes sense. But what about the market price of iron in space? Not that you'd choose to launch iron into space, given the cost per ounce to put anything up there, but if it were already up there and convenient for the taking, might it not prove useful? I'm thinking cosmic ray shields and stuff like that. In the absence of replicators, it might be useful.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

dont know if spending quadrillions to build a space station in mars orbit to mine quadrillions worth of material from an asteroid and spending billions to transport that material back to earth, would be ideal.

Just being able to examine it as a core of a planet is AWESOME!


The only thing that will get any sort of mining of space is objects like these.
That is a lot of money and that would be the only incentive to do it.
Greed can be good in a case like this for everyone.

s&f

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Could there be a danger of it getting out of control and hitting Earth? Just think of the damage a big metal asteroid could do to Earth.

Well its been up there for a few billion years - are you worried you'll not be able to post on ATS

The thought of that large of a chunk of metal blows my mined

Come to sunny West Australia - plenty of metal to build a roof so the sky doesn't fall down

www.dmp.wa.gov.au...

Australia has the world’s largest estimated reserves of iron ore with54 billion tonnes, 28 per cent of the worlds estimated 190 billion tonnes. Australia is followed by Russia, with 25 billion tonnes (13 per cent), Brazil with 23 billion tonnes (12 per cent) and China, also with 23 billion tonnes (but of substantially lower grade) of estimated iron ore reserves. Western Australia was the second largest producer of Iron ore in 2015 with 742 million tonnes, second only to China. With China’s production accounted for domestically, this leaves Western Australia as the leading iron ore exporter.

a reply to: schuyler

absence of replicators, it might be useful.

"replicators" You had to go and use obcsenity...
why oh why...

They want to shut down talking heads...you think you'll buy replicators at the 711's? Or that us plebs wouldn't have been exterminated by then?

Not just Iron. An object large enough to coalesce and sort materials by density will certainly put the Iron there, but there is Gold, Platinum, Uranium to think about at the very center of the core, like we suspect is in our core as well.

a reply to: charlyv

Right now, the cost effectiveness of mining any of those is questionable. To say the least. It's going to take a whole hell of a lot of R&D before it's feasible. At some point it could well be.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: charlyv

Right now, the cost effectiveness of mining any of those is questionable. To say the least. It's going to take a whole hell of a lot of R&D before it's feasible. At some point it could well be.

Totally agree. We cannot even effectively mine parts of our own planet yet. Imagine towing it back to Earth and having a line snap... the first crater made by humans, or the biggest tsunami ever witnessed...

What it is is the perfect scenario for a ship / space station factory in Mars orbit.

Probably most effective would be to build all industry from mining to spaceship docks directly on Psyche.

originally posted by: Phage

Do you think it could be mined?

Sure. Someday.
When we're much better at interplanetary travel. At this point it's probably not cost effective, given the market price of iron on Earth.

It would be good for building structures out of in space. A nice, dense, raw material just floating around out there.

a reply to: JanAmosComenius

that would require transporting heavy machinery to psyche.. something not exactly feasible currently.

thats assuming we have heavy machinery that actually works in a vacuum.

Wouldn't mining it change the mass and alter the orbit?

I say we round up some oil rig workers, teach them how to drill and fly them to this asteroid to blow it up and collect the pieces afterward. Fool-proof plan.

a reply to: LumenImagoDei

Brilliant!

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: charlyv

Right now, the cost effectiveness of mining any of those is questionable. To say the least. It's going to take a whole hell of a lot of R&D before it's feasible. At some point it could well be.

I believe you underestimate the power of greed....