• tee9000@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Spaceflight is really important to humanity. Mining resources and proving concepts should be done. Having it carried out by corporations isnt ideal but thay doesnt mean it is better to stop. Let them burn their cash on r&d. Space is really high risk with inconsistent profitability.

    • _pi@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      If you think corporations are going to outlay the capital to develop a realistic extra-planetary mining technology soup to nuts and in comparable time to public investment, you should be licking Elon Musk’s boots.

      Let them burn their cash on r&d

      Damn if only we could use that cash for something else.

      • tee9000@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        You cant mine without reliable spaceflight, which is whats being proven now. Obviously spacex’s cash would not be used to buy everyone dinner if they stopped spaceflight operations, so im not sure how your take is in the realm of reality. If you want to attribute spacex’s work to elon alone then thats your business.

        • _pi@lemmy.ml
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          1 month ago

          You cant mine without reliable spaceflight, which is whats being proven now.

          The following interplanetary flights to Mars: Sojourner (1997), Spirit (2004–2010), Opportunity (2004–2018), Curiosity (2012–present), Perseverance (2021-Present), and Zhurong (2021-2022) weren’t enough to “prove out reliable space flight” for you?

          You need MarsCoin to do it?

          • lad
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            1 month ago

            I would argue that you mentioned events that were rare and much prepared (also omit failed attempts), while what is required for any resource extraction must be mass-available. On the other hand, I don’t think any space resource mining will be reasonable, as I expect it to require more resources than provide.

          • tee9000@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            There have also been failures at a rate that would make human space flight concerning. Why wouldnt more experience be better? You are saying we didnt learn anything about space flight with each mission?

            I dont know what mars coin is. Why do you generalize my appreciation for spaceflight to other unrelated opinions? Im not a group of people, im an individual who you know nothing about. Stop with the weird guessing of my beliefs.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      We’re not mining anything in space anytime soon. The climate crisis will end that possibility long before we can develop automated systems sufficient to get the mechanics in place and ore safely back to wherever it’s needed on Earth.

      Right now spaceflight is just another profit vehicle for billionaires. The don’t get paid because of the work the companies do, they get paid because the stocks they have from those companies keep going up.