I believe there are open iron seams on the planet's surface and even open pit mines, which was how metallurgy got started even in old Roman times, so iron really isn't that hard to mine. I mean, the Japanese even have iron sand where they got most of their iron from in the past.
The dangers and the health issues in space. Makes it paramount that people should think of space as a job. Not a place to live. At least not yet. Personally, If we were to find a space drive that gavels us a constant g for a very long time this would be possible. But really you don’t need to be in space. To mine space. It’s just better if you did. Especially with communication lag.
Iron like copper it’s an abundant material, but heavier metals. Your more than likely to find on astoride. Things like platinum, uranium, francium or even gold. Besides all that. The shear volume of materials you could mine. May make mining iron actually cost effective.
I doubt it lol. Iron is already the cheapest or 2nd cheapest metal on Earth. Abundance =/= cost. For example, Aluminum is more abundant but to extract it, the cost shoots up past iron. Iron is less abundant (abundance on a planetary scale is still counted in gigatons) but it's so easy to extract that iron becomes cheaper. Buying and selling iron is a low profit enterprise because of how cheap it is.
Ah. When I said most, I mean that the primary element in the core is iron. So while there is ‘plenty’ of iron on the surface, it is only an extremely tiny portion of the total iron in the Earth. Gold and other such elements are similar. We have a smidge here on the surface and most is too far down to mine.
There are some logical possibilities. For instance. If it’s so cheap why isn’t more thinks made out of iron? Like many plastic items could be made better with iron. Cups, utensils even straws. Yet people are still using plastic. If you brought a gigaton of iron on the market. Your telling me it won’t sell. Even at a 100 times cheaper to anything else. If you can’t your doing something wrong.
I just checked, it's 84 USD per ton. We use plastics in material because the properties of plastics are useful, not because it is cheaper. Metal straws are heavier than plastic and less easily disposable since things like plastic straws can be crumpled. Or plastic bags. Do you want to go shopping with a metal bag? And they insulate better. You do not want your computer casing to scald you by accident after prolonged use. Iron will sell, it's in great demand, but there is also so much of it in the market that the price is super low. Compare it to what the proposed DragonXL shuttle can carry, 5 tons. You can carry $420 of iron in one trip. The cost won't even cover getting the shuttle into orbit even if the iron was free.
Dude it's the matter of manufacturing. The manufactured product of iron is steel and steel manufacturing require far heavier tooling and higher energy consumption than plastics. The result product are also much heavier than plastic making the issue of distribution in favor of plastic.
first problem how to reach second how to land and or make permanent place for mining third problem how to mine fourth problem how to transport those not mention financial calculation which influence profit and loss basically you just need see how mining on earth conducted then put space as variable for fine detail~ do you know freeport grasberg on papua? its not on space, still it really complex mining operation~ it only mining a whole mountain tho~ now imagine how complex mining on asteroid~ rather than asteriod hmm it better terraform planet for mining~ anyway when we start to mine asteroid? when human consume material for interstellar voyage aka space travel~ material required for spaceship on different level compared with planetary voyage no?
I was thinking reusable straws. As to bags. I would have a box attached to some wheels with a long handle. Something like a carrier. The suitcase kind of deal. So there is a market for it. As to DragonXL. Your thinking in the wrong direction. Tesla is more than likely sending shuttles to deal with satellites issues or replacement. When that is done. They have an empty cargo hold. Bringing in a load of materials. In the end can only increase the profit margins.
It may come down to manufacturing. But let me ask you which is more of an issue to dispose of? Plastics could take a 1,000 years to decompose. While most metals takes a 100 years to decompose. Which is a really good ratio. I’m not saying Iron is better. All I’m saying. Is that mining iron in space may still be a profitable endeavor.
I just said that landing on an asteroid is not even the biggest challenge here. Did you even read what I said? The theorem I mentioned will only come into play when you start digging a hole into that asteroid.
It isn't the matter of how ecological they are it is the matter of how convenient they are to manufacture, stored, and in use. In which the case the flexible, reasonably hard, and naturally waterproof plastic trump that of the heavier, rigid steel for mass use and distribution. Steel rust while plastic don't. Also the matter of profitability of extraterrestrial iron mining still the same problem of terrestrial one in which they are simple lack of demand. Think how many uses of plastic versus how many steel used in our daily living ? Steel manufactured goods last a good couple of years whereas plastic are considered to be disposable so the rate of their daily consumption are simply too far different. Until we have a way to manufacture steel without the use of massive heat or heavy compactor i doubt they can be used to replace plastic in our daily convenience use.
Your forgetting the PC group. The group who believes in saving the environment. So consumers needs are not all about cost. It’s also a preference. It’s like buying a brand name instead of their lesser brand. For same pair of pants. So I disagree. I believe there is a market for environment friendly goods.
mining asteroids has two basic ways. either you use a gigantic mining spaceship and cut the whole asteroids into smaller pieces and swallow them whole into the spaceship to process. or use a smaller spaceship and tied the asteroid into it into a fixed position. after it is tied, then bring the asteroid into the nearest processing factory. The former would probably still thousands years away. the latter would be within a thousand year.
Hmmm... For disposables i doubt steel can replace plastic while to manufacture waterproof plant fiber based wrapper is much more expensive than manufacturing plastic wrapper of the same grade. Anyhow the quality people expected out of steel products is their durability rather than convenience so it's pretty terrible to compare them to disposable plastic. If we compare them in area such as automobile then we'll have a reverse opinion don't you think ?
Interesting thought. Plastic cars = better crumple effect on accidents. While the older cars were built from steel and would probably survive the next apocalypse. So yes the reverse would be true. But getting back to disposable plastics. That’s the beauty of steel. You can put it in a dishwasher and reuse them. The best part is when they do finally head to a landfill. The steel will breakdown way before the plastics.