Science Forums 2

[Boerseun]

Jeez - I wished I shared your optimism, Moontan.

You propose to accelerate ore from a Lagrange Point around Jupiter, to Earth.

1) How do you propose getting the ore to the L point in the first place?
2) How do you expect to stop the ore, Earthside? You proposed atmospheric braking, which means you're happy with it raining rock all over the world? This, of course, is ignoring the utter and total cock-up you'll make of the atmosphere, as 80%+ of your ore burns up into the atmosphere, before hitting somebody's house to smithereens.

Spaceflight is cool. Space colonization is cool. Hell, it's awesome. But so are ten gazillion other pie-in-the-sky concepts. And the amount of available ore of any kind in the Earth's crust will be cheaper by orders of magnitude for many, many years.

If we run out of tin, what to do? Did all the tin ever mined, magically disappear? No, they're lying in landfills. Landfill mining will, also, be much more profitable than any space-based mining you can imagine.

Also, as to the cliché about the Wright Brothers inventing flying: Imagine if the purpose of every flying machine ever built was merely to get the pilot to Antarctica. Would it be such a good idea? Airplanes are cool, because they get you from one perfectly hospitable place to another.

I want humans to go to the planets, the stars, and eventually the entire galaxy. But I need a damn good reason. And I haven't heard a single one. Not a peep.

So, convince me.