This means space colonization. Here is the problem: 1) either we meet sooner or later aliens whom we don’t whether they are dangerous and hostile 2) we discover we live in a simulation but still every simulation has its limits ( like maps in the games )
Comment on Against all odds, an asteroid mining company [AstroForge] appears to be making headway
Hirom@beehaw.org 2 months agoI was about to say people can walk and chew gum. But this kind of miss the point.
This is not space exploration, this is not for science’s sake. This is about extracting resources, and these companies perpetuate the idea that there’s virtually infinite resource, which imply we can continue with humanity’s exponential growth without negative consequences.
endofline@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Drewelite@lemmynsfw.com 2 months ago
“I wish we could mine without destroying the environment”
“Well what if we mined in space instead?”
“Why don’t you focus on the problems here on Earth buddy. Wow what an idiot. Can you believe that guy?”
Hirom@beehaw.org 2 months ago
Hypothetically, it would only make sense to mine rare materials in space, and it would only have environmental benefits if we return significant amount compared to the mass of rockets we send into space.
There is no coal/gas/oil in space, and even it we could burning, and even mining were cleaner, burning that stuff would still be disastrous.
Space mining would be a best viable for a very niche use for a few material. It won’t bring us infinite clean resources, overall we still need to reduce extraction of resources.
endofline@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Coal is a basic substance, so it is in the space. Maybe there is not likely oil or gas ( although I believe methan should be pretty much available everywhere as it’s simple substance ), uran will be in space for sure. Maybe even mining dead stars would be possible in the future, who knows
Drewelite@lemmynsfw.com 2 months ago
If you engineer for it, you can send up a machine to fabricate the miners with raw resources. Then you just have to send up a couple starter miners and you never have to send another rocket up. Infinite resources down (limited by time). Solar power to drive the machines. Hell the manufacturer can double as basic initial processing plant and drop purified metals.
Hirom@beehaw.org 2 months ago
There miners robot don’t exist yet, but they would probably require high tech components and manufacturing capabilities for all these different components (motors, electronics, batteries, sensors, …).
Self replicating robots is still science fiction. If we wanted to build such robots in space, we’d need to build and launch manufacturing facilities in space before we can actually build robots in space.