would mining the astroid belt help humankind become more prosperous?

Question

OK,how about the kuiper belt or even the oort cloud in time.

Answer 1

Sure. We have far more resources out there--that we already know about--than Earth can ever provide. Its just a matter of developing the technology.

I'd guess we'll start with the moon and the Near Earth Asteroids, though. And don't forget the moons of Jupiter--though Saturn's moons and rings seem to have even more resources.

Answer 2

Believe it or not there are already such plans underway. With the return to the moon scheduled, methods of robotic mining and extraction of valuable resources from its surface are being developed. These methods are entirely robotic and take place without human involvement. This is ideal if you want to have a functioning habitat supplied before humans even land. Whether returned by conventional spacecraft or other means however, the cargo must be worth the tremendous expense involved in the current state of manned/unmanned space travel.

The moon has large deposits of titanium, Helium3 and possibly water. Helium3 may be one of the most valuable commodities in the solar system and is almost non-existant on earth. Scientists believe helium3 may be the key to generating sustainable fusion reactions. Safe, virtually unlimited, clean power.

Granted the moon is much closer and appears to be bursting with the stuff, but surveys of the asteroid belt and some of the other moons in the solar system are underway for signs of helium3 and other "precious commodities." In space, millions of miles from home, water would be priceless, and a stable, reliable supply could mean an outpost or colony of some sort elsewhere in the solar-system.

Answer 3

yes but not the way most people would think... there is more than just minrals on one of them astroids(water may become valueable enuff for us to go out there and mine some day)
or lets say u want to get a breathable atmospheer on mars, first u have to increes its mass so why not use matter from the astroid belt. lol now wouldnt that be cool

Answer 4

yes (not the oort cloud though, we are not going to make money on bits of ice.) But the astroids harvest metals of great value in an abundence.

Answer 5

No. The cost of operating in space would make mining very much a money losing activity. It makes no economic sense at all, unless you intend to use the mined material at the site from which it is mined. Even then, incredibly expensive considering the logistics involved.

Answer 6

I don't see how. The cost of mining the asteroids would be so high that a chunk of copper from one of them would likely go for 10,000 a lb. The only way to use the metals would be space stations with settlements on them.
Likely the asteroids contain mostly iron anyway--one thing there is plenty of on earth and with recycling we don't have to worry about running short of for a few millenia.

Answer 7

It might if there was something out there more than granite.

It would certainly help a Mars colony with cheaper raw materials than from Earth.

One of my favorite childhood juvie fiction books was about that, Scavengers in Space by Dr. Alan E. Nourse, I memorized every word.

Answer 8

it really is going to take a lengthy time period. Robert Mugabe i do not comprehend yet in some way the human beings might want to detect a thanks to get him out of workplace. Somalia? did you propose Sudan, the position in Darfur there is genocide occurring. that's saddening i do not comprehend even as it will supply up. i imagine international locations in Africa might want to unite mutually and verify out to offer up this mess.

Answer 9

'Prosperous' is a very relative term. As soon as there's money to be made, we'll go into space. But probably not much before ☺

Doug

Answer 10

Too far away and too expensive to get to stuff we have on earth