NASA goes after priceless rock worth QUADRILLIONS

[jhungary]

I was expecting a detailed Mathematical reply.

....lol, wouldn't do that...

Ross is a dinosaurs guy, not a math guy

 

[NoOne'sBoy]

I was expecting a detailed Mathematical reply.

your signature says you need a ban? you are trolling the wrong people. if you need a ban you should troll the chinese.

 

[I S I]

your signature says you need a ban? you are trolling the wrong people. if you need a ban you should troll the chinese.

Damn. Forgot to change the signature.

....lol, wouldn't do that...

Ross is a dinosaurs guy, not a math guy

 

[Shajida Khan]

I hope it falls on America.

If this thing is made of Fe and Ni, it will sink pretty fast and pretty inside the crust -- think of a bullet hitting loose sand. It will not easily burn up as well. Destruction will not be limited to America alone.

On the other hand, I wonder if we can find some lithium on these asteroids. That will be a metal worth collection from outer space. There is not too much of Lithium on earth and China is controlling most of its supply. If lithium can be found in such huge quantities, it will be great for making numerous Li-ion batteries and will make renewable energy cheaper like hell.

 

[I S I]

If this thing is made of Fe and Ni, it will sink pretty fast and pretty inside the crust -- think of a bullet hitting loose sand. It will not easily burn up as well. Destruction will not be limited to America alone.

Another serious fella.

 

[jhungary]

If this thing is made of Fe and Ni, it will sink pretty fast and pretty inside the crust -- think of a bullet hitting loose sand. It will not easily burn up as well. Destruction will not be limited to America alone.

On the other hand, I wonder if we can find some lithium on these asteroids. That will be a metal worth collection from outer space. There is not too much of Lithium on earth and China is controlling most of its supply. If lithium can be found in such huge quantities, it will be great for making numerous Li-ion batteries and will make renewable energy cheaper like hell.

Don't think you can find reactive metal (Group 1 on the periodic table) because of the space radiation, it will more likely to be radiated and reacted and either exist in oxide or got turn into a stable element. And even if it does, it won't be of any concentration level, abundance would be huge tho, but the effort to mine them would have been in disaster level.

Also, China is not the leading producer of Lithium, they are the one of the leading producer of Li-Battery, Majority of Lithium deposit is under the Andes, and in South America, Chile is the leading producer of Lithium at this moment.

 

[Shajida Khan]

Don't think you can find reactive metal (Group 1 on the periodic table) because of the space radiation, it will more likely to be radiated and reacted and either exist in oxide or got turn into a stable element. And even if it does, it won't be of any concentration level, abundance would be huge tho, but the effort to mine them would have been in disaster level.

Also, China is not the leading producer of Lithium, they are the one of the leading producer of Li-Battery, Majority of Lithium deposit is under the Andes, and in South America, Chile is the leading producer of Lithium at this moment.

You are right about reactivity and ease of extraction but Lithium is not really abundant in earth. Lithium is indeed produced majorly Chile but most of the mines are now owned by Chinese companies.

 

[jhungary]

You are right about reactivity and ease of extraction but Lithium is not really abundant in earth. Lithium is indeed produced majorly Chile but most of the mines are now owned by Chinese companies.

Well, since the world is limitless (at least what we now know of) there bound to be a lot more of space mineral in space then on earth, there may even be new element there are that make Lithium obsolete. The problem is how you can mine these element in a manner that's profitable, right now, for a probe, it would take 3 to 4 years just to get there, then another 3 to 4 to return, for a fully loaded space craft, that's even slower, unless you plan to wait 1 to 20 years to get maybe 1 load of Lithium in outta space, that just not worth it.

It could worthwhile tho, never say never, we will need quite a lot more technology to maybe establish a moon launch system to lower the cost and time for the trip and the mining method we need to extract the material in a short time, both of these we are currently lacking.