The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Space => Topic started by: Elderberry on June 19, 2019, 12:31:04 am
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Live Science by Rafi Letzter 6/12/2019
The naked metallic core of a dead, early planet should soon get a visitor. Orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter, the bizarre space rock is the target of a NASA mission that just entered its final design phase this week.
The space agency has targeted the date of Jan. 31, 2026, for the arrival of a spacecraft in the neighborhood of Psyche, a 125-mile-wide (200 kilometers) object in the asteroid belt. Planetary scientists have long suspected that Psyche — named after the nymph who married Cupid in Greek mythology — made up almost entirely of iron and nickel, might be the exposed core of a long-dead protoplanet from the early days of our solar system. The planet could have once boasted a girth similar to that of Mars before ancient collisions ripped its outer, rocky shell from its relatively dinky core.
More: https://www.livescience.com/65703-asteroid-psyche-probe-iron-mission.html (https://www.livescience.com/65703-asteroid-psyche-probe-iron-mission.html)
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Cool!
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Cool!
What an understatement! :lotsosmileys:
https://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html (https://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html)
The average temperature of the surface of a typical asteroid is minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 73 degrees Celsius).
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What an understatement! :lotsosmileys:
https://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html (https://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html)
Good point.
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When does mining commence?
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https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17778-700-quintillion-dollar-asteroid-space-mining-gold-rush-mars-jupiter (https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17778-700-quintillion-dollar-asteroid-space-mining-gold-rush-mars-jupiter)
$700 Quintillion Asteroid Ignites Space Mining Gold Rush Between Mars and Jupiter
"The timeline for space mining is the $64,000 question. My opinion is probably 25 years for a 'proof of concept' set-up, and 50 years for a commercial start. But there are so many uncertainties—mostly based around economics and the progress of space technology."
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https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17778-700-quintillion-dollar-asteroid-space-mining-gold-rush-mars-jupiter (https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17778-700-quintillion-dollar-asteroid-space-mining-gold-rush-mars-jupiter)
If only I were a younger man.
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I hear that!
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If only I were a younger man.
Now, that, we can agree on.
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Now, that, we can agree on.
You wish that Bill was a younger man? :shrug:
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You wish that Bill was a younger man? :shrug:
:bigsilly: :bigsilly:
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https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17778-700-quintillion-dollar-asteroid-space-mining-gold-rush-mars-jupiter (https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17778-700-quintillion-dollar-asteroid-space-mining-gold-rush-mars-jupiter)
Space mining - more specifically Moon mining could begin before that. Titanium appears to be in abundance on the lunar surface.