Huge asteroid with $5 trillion worth of platinum to pass by Earth

[thesolar65]

Star gazers are in for a treat, as a huge asteroid is set to pass by the Earth at 11 p.m (London time) on Sunday.

People in India can watch it live on the internet at 4 a.m. on Monday.

Asteroid UW-158, with a 90 million tonne core, is expected to contain $5 trillion worth of platinum. It will be 30 times closer than Earth’s nearest planet.

Slooh, a project which links telescopes to the internet, will broadcast images from an observatory in the Canary Islands, volcanic archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa.

“It’s always fun when an asteroid fly past our world. Slooh will be watching live when UW-158 passes 30 times closer to us than the nearest planet, on July 19,” Slooh Astronomer, Bob Berman said.

“What makes this unusual is the large amount of platinum believed to be lurking in the body of this space visitor. Perhaps it could be mined someday, not too far in the future,” Berman asked.

Asteroids like UW-158 are defined as ‘X-type’ by Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company.

Asteroid UW-158, with $5 trillion worth of platinum to pass by earth - The Hindu

 

[Donatello]

It is a direct threat. It therefore needs freedom and human rights.

Right paladin @Syed.Ali.Haider

 

[third eye]

It is a direct threat. It therefore needs freedom and human rights.

Right paladin @Syed.Ali.Haider

Have you posted this reply where you wanted to ?

 

[Donatello]

Have you posted this reply where you wanted to ?

Sir are you 75 years old that you cannot fathom sarcasm?

 

[kaonalpha]

What the asteroid needs is democracy hence it will be shot down.

 

[third eye]

Sir are you 75 years old that you cannot fathom sarcasm?

Educate me.

 

[hunter_hunted]

We come in PEACE !!!!!

 

[jaunty]

Sir are you 75 years old that you cannot fathom sarcasm?

Do you post anything to justify your think tank tag? I always see you posting one liners and sarcastic posts everywhere pretty much all the time.

 

[Force-India]

It is a direct threat. It therefore needs freedom and human rights.

Right paladin @Syed.Ali.Haider

Right sire, 'merica to the rescue!

 

[Audio]

Such a large amount of resources truly needs liberation from the rocky prison it is confined in.

 

[VCheng]

Right sire, 'merica to the rescue!

Please don't worry, we're already working on such technologies:

Asteroid Redirect Mission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Nefarious]

Educate me.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks

 

[Audio]

Please don't worry, we're already working on such technologies:

Asteroid Redirect Mission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is on a completely different scale than what would be required to actually bring it closer and mine it. Not that i'm dissing in any way....but, not the same.

 

[VCheng]

This is on a completely different scale than what would be required to actually bring it closer and mine it. Not that i'm dissing in any way....but, not the same.

Not yet. Once the technology can be proven in a smaller model, then it can be developed.

 

[Audio]

Not yet. Once the technology can be proven in a smaller model, then it can be developed.

It's not a problem with technology per se, but more about security hurdles, as you would be essentially bringing a planet killer asteroid close to Earth.
If anything would go wrong and it fell into Earth's gravity well (the small distances also shorten reaction times for a possible 2nd deflection).......i suppose we'd all die rich, bathed in molten platinum.