Planetary Resources Confirms Plan To Mine Asteroids 500
Matching widespread predictions, The Bad Astronomer writes with word that "The private company Planetary Resources has announced that it plans to mine asteroids for water, air, and even precious metals in the next few years. Your initial reaction may be to snicker a bit, but it's headed by Peter Diamandis — who established the X Prize — has several ex-NASA personnel running the engineering, and also has the backing of a half-dozen or so billionaires. So this is no joke — their plan looks solid, and may very well be the first step in establishing a permanent human presence in space."
just in time (Score:4, Funny)
"their plan looks solid" (Score:5, Funny)
Solid as a rock?
IGMC
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:4, Funny)
Slightly paraphrasing Hubert Farnsworth: "Yes, there's no safer occupation than mining. Especially when you're on a rock whipping through space at a million miles an hour! Whoo whoo whoo whoooo! Safe!"
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Funny)
Well, there's always the possibility that some enterprising manager finds that if he provides performance enhancing narcotics to the miners, his quarterly numbers and thus compensation will go up. Then a marshal of Scottish descent will catch on after a miner wigs out on the drugs and opens an airlock without an environment suit on. He'll try to stop the operation leading the manager to send up some thugs to take the marshal out. This will cause a bloody gunfight and some EVA shenanigans; maybe an explosion or two.
Props to everyone who's old enough to get the reference!
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Funny)
Slightly paraphrasing Hubert Farnsworth: "Yes, there's no safer occupation than mining. Especially when you're on a rock whipping through space at a million miles an hour! Whoo whoo whoo whoooo! Safe!"
Dr. Zoidberg: It's true, it's true. I've never had one asteroid miner come to me seeking medical attention.
Re:Best of Luck (Score:5, Funny)
As if you had the means or the opportunity.
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:4, Funny)
the only way you'll get a weapon-like trajectory is if someone actually tried for that.
And there is my next movie idea. A rogue non-union group of asteroid miners, sick of lousy pay, blue gruel, and malfunctioning sexbots, actually tries to get an asteroid into a weapon-like trajectory in order to hold to Earth ransom for one bazillion, no wait, one gazillion dollars. Cue Dwayne Johnson to get Bruce Willis out of retirement for one last Earth saving "Hurrah!" Call it "Die Hardest Mega-Impactor Go Joe Go".
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:2, Funny)
Ahhhh the 80's, could do no wrong..
I loved the 80s.
But the in fact could [wikipedia.org] do wrong.
Re:A lot, but (Score:4, Funny)
I would have thought their best chance of revenue was to sell to the highest bidder the right to nominate which country the asteroid will hit.