It's not always that simple, there may be potential uses that are uneconomical at current prices but kick in at 10x or even 2x reduction. The increased demand would prevent further collapse. See Jevons paradox[1] for a more general case of this in coal and road usage.
Injecting that amount of mineral wealth into the global economy would be pretty much an unalloyed good. So many things would become cheaper to build.
That's not true. If you had the option to buy the rights to that asteroid for 100 dollars, I assume you would even though it might not minable for the next century.
The asteroid probably has some immense value right now if we could figure out ownership.
In the unlikely scenario that we are able to mine it cheaply or at least cheaper than current methods, won’t the cost of those metals go way way down due to the abundant supply, making mining it worth even less?
A massive cache of ore outside of Earth's gravity well seems like it could have far more value in space than its FMV sold here on Earth.
I wonder how many people are running the numbers on cost of hauling chunks back to the moon for lunar projects vs. Earth-supplied, should this discovery be confirmed in 2026.
wat?
consider the value, in space, of frozen water ice -- as spacecraft propellant and as life-sustaining hydration for astronauts and as a prerequisite for farming...
So about the only thing that could get that to an exploitable orbit might be a full-size medusa-style Orion pulse nuclear ship (the 2.5 million tons version).
Then... chop off parts, wrap in ablative aerogel, and parachute to the surface of Earth, maybe somewhere in the Sahara?
> If the mission could kindly bring the asteroid back to Earth, every person on the planet — all 7.8 billion of us — would get roughly $1.2 billion, based on current metal prices.
Are they intentionally messing with us with statements like this? That much supply of any metal (precious or otherwise) would cause the price to completely collapse. It would be worth basically nothing.
I find that figure a lot easier to visualize than whatever quadrillion, and for that purpose using face value is exactly what I would expect (attempting to correct for market realities would only confuse me).
I would pay >$1 for the rights to mine this asteroid for the next 200 years. I would bet the value of this asteroid if sold in the market right now would be significant.
Initially it will seem controversial to crash this into the planet earth for easy mining, but I'm sure someone can justify wiping out half a continent for it, it's money after all :)
"The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason."
>That's the explosive beginning to a new novel called "Seveneves" by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson. That event, the breakup of the moon into seven big pieces, kicks off 800 pages of love, death and heavy-duty engineering, as humankind races to save itself from a storm of fiery moon rock.
This is a fantastic book; prepare to abandon sleep.
In Cowboy Beebop, People mostly live off earth because of constant collision by asteroids. They never explain why but maybe a corporation decided to mess with the celestial mechanics and humanity paid the price.
Yes this was explained extensively in the episode 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
The inventor of their gates found a flaw and reported it. In typical capitalistic fashion the higher ups decided the $ was worth the lives so they silenced/banished him.
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[ 530 ms ] story [ 1053 ms ] threadInjecting that amount of mineral wealth into the global economy would be pretty much an unalloyed good. So many things would become cheaper to build.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
I see what you did there ;)
The asteroid probably has some immense value right now if we could figure out ownership.
Just need a few decades or more of dedication to actually capture it
I wonder how many people are running the numbers on cost of hauling chunks back to the moon for lunar projects vs. Earth-supplied, should this discovery be confirmed in 2026.
The moon already has plenty of water ice.
Water has no value except in some places devastated by war. The only valuable thing in this universe is oil.
Then... chop off parts, wrap in ablative aerogel, and parachute to the surface of Earth, maybe somewhere in the Sahara?
Are they intentionally messing with us with statements like this? That much supply of any metal (precious or otherwise) would cause the price to completely collapse. It would be worth basically nothing.
Also lots of iron and nickel.
Serious, I'm not sure this asteroid is worth a $1 if we want to talk manufacturing value.
What is the case? Obvious it's value is out of the gravity well. But do we want heaps of iron and nickel?
I think we want water do we not?
"The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason."
>That's the explosive beginning to a new novel called "Seveneves" by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson. That event, the breakup of the moon into seven big pieces, kicks off 800 pages of love, death and heavy-duty engineering, as humankind races to save itself from a storm of fiery moon rock.
This is a fantastic book; prepare to abandon sleep.
Famous last words.
The inventor of their gates found a flaw and reported it. In typical capitalistic fashion the higher ups decided the $ was worth the lives so they silenced/banished him.
What's better to boost the company stock then saying that have $10,000,000,000,000,000,000 dollars worth of rare metal claimed.
(I understand that it's probably a net loss right now to do a mining operation.. but that doesn't mean it will stay that way in the next decade)