Justin, Here's the part of the web site Douglas was speaking of:
spacedev.com
Keep in mind they're only sending a probe and mining wouldn't begin until a later launch. But, I believe that price list represents what they will charge others for that information or the right to have some of there instruments ride with the probe.
As far as the worth of these asteroids and the size they are shooting for, the Astronomy article I sited does a very good job of explaining all of this in detail. But to give you an idea, since there are so many to choose from they focus on ones 1 km across or bigger. An asteroid of moderate mineral amounts(say 185 ppm), 1 km across, would be worth 10 trillion dollars, at today's prices!!!!! But that's the problem 10 trillion dollars is almost as much as the US GDP for 1 year. This represents more of these minerals than have been mined on earth since the beginning of time- for just 1 asteroid 1 km across. Because of this the price of these minerals (gold, platinum, and many rare expensive others) would drop to be comparable to that of copper and gold. Meaning that the 10 trillion dollars would now be worth about 900 billion, still not bad for a 1 km asteroid. The reason a 1 km asteroid has so much is due to the cosmological process in which it was formed, which is also explained in the Astronomy article. On earth an area would be mined if it contained 2 ppm (parts per million) of gold. These asteroids contain 100 to 200 ppm and sometimes even more. That's why A) a system of predetermining how much an asteroid has in it is so important and B) why they yield and are worth so much.
Hope this gives you some more insight.
Where do I go to trade OTC stocks, can I do it with an online broker or do I need to do it somewhere else? I just started an account with Datek the other day? I know there's another forum for this topic but does anyone here have anything to say about online brokers- good or bad ones and why?
Brian |
