Space is starting to look like the better mining operation
arstechnica.com
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Mining in space might be less environmentally harmful than mining asteroids on Earth.

Space is starting to look like the better mining operation | Mining in space might be less environmentally harmful than mining asteroids on Earth.::Mining in space might be less environmentally harmful than mining asteroids on Earth.

@Jikiya@lemmy.world
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21Y

They towed the boat out of the environment.

@Parabola@lemmy.world
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11Y

Into a different environment? Did the front stay on?

What could possibly go wrong adding a ton of mass to earth

@Dedh@lemmy.world
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11Y

I’ve been curious about this subject (increasing or decreasing the planet’s mass) & wanting a real fact based explanation. The fact that man has built structures that had a measureable impact to Earth’s tilt indicate that there is a calcuable figure that represents the effect that the cumulative mass being removed from close to Earth’s core/surface & shifted into orbit or pushed out of the planet’s gravitational field has/will have. I’ve got no idea ehat the impact would be, but at some point reducing the mass of a spinning object has to result in changes. How many non-returning ships sent off-planet does it take to reduce the gravitational field of Earth? Does it impact Earth’s orbit around the Sun? And inversely, how much off-planet mined materials brought here before …idk - Earth’s gravity is increased? Assuming the # is “real”, shouldn’t we be determining how much can be mined on the moon & brought here? Better now than waiting until the next environmental crisis headlines read “Moon weight loss has lead to extreme ellipse-ing of it’s orbit: expect even more monumental tidal extremes!”. Again, I don’t know what the real impact would be, I made this last bit up for dramatic effect/illustrate my question.

This was exactly my point. It’s silly to assume we can just bring endless resources to our planet and not eventually fuck up our gravity or rotation.

@HerrBeter@lemmy.world
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31Y

Not too much. It’s just a single ton. Unless it’s a ton of antimatter

@KickMeElmo@sopuli.xyz
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131Y

ROCK AND STONE

Blake
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21Y

For Rock and Stoooone!

@FrankLaskey@lemmy.ml
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151Y

So my grandchildren will be more than likely be belters. Got it.

@cyd@lemmy.world
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81Y

Realistically, asteroid mining is centuries away, if it ever happens at all. Deep space is an incredibly hostile environment, which makes it non-conducive for the kind of tinkering and experimentation that usually leads to human technological progress.

@Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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3
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1Y

The human body is incredibly picky. Everything has to be just right or the human simply dies of anything and everything. Things like gravity, radiation, temperature, pressure and so many other variables matter a lot.

Space exploration and asteroid mining are the kinds of jobs better left for robots.

@Sygheil@lemmy.world
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21Y

Dead space vibes.

@pimento64@sopuli.xyz
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241Y

Less harmful to Earth’s environment, anyway. The environment on those asteroids is going to be all kinds of fucked up, hard luck for any giant space slugs that might be living there.

I mean this is kind of a ridiculous take. There is no environment there. They are asteroids. The asteroid belt represents ~3% the mass of the moon.. There are plenty. Enough with the hand wringing.

It would be great if we could move this environmentally destructive practice to a place where there is no environment. Its one of the few justifications that really makes sense for investment in space travel. Not because it could be profitable, but because it could help us preserve literally the only habitable place in the universe we know of. That alone should be justification for investment.

Its just another implication of how hard it is for humans to understand that “space is big”.

ComradeSharkfucker
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51Y

But think of the space slugs that eat those rocks

@pimento64@sopuli.xyz
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181Y

I don’t think it was ridiculous at all, and I wholeheartedly believe this would negatively impact the giant space slugs from Empire Strikes Back. Can’t you tell how serious I am?

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