Space!

[Student of Trinity]

This is a decent enough argument you're having, but I think it's futile, because there are too many large unknowns. Mars has a gravity well; that's bad. But Mars is also a planet, with a thin atmosphere and unknown subsurface resources. Being able to use those things might more than make up for the gravity well. Or not. I don't think we can say at this point.

 

It might be worth visiting an asteroid soon just to compare the project with the moon landings.

[keira]

Not valid if you are mining for a short period of time and then coming back, I'm only talking about material gained from one shift.

Also not valid for precious metals.

If you are mining for a short period of time and then coming back, you are wasting your time and resources. Any form of non-Earth mining would be a very long-term thing, simply because of the distances and time and cost of getting basic logistics lines running. The whole idea is to increase the profit margin, it is more economical to stockpile up ore/metal and ship it in bulk rather than send hundreds of spacecraft back carrying next to nothing. This is why we ship oil in supertankers, not barrels of oil with an outback motor strapped on.

 

Any application of mining precious metals would cease to make those metals precious, based on the massive volume we would be adding to the market, thus the devaluation would make it apply. In addition, we return to the profit margin, if you only use your mining equipment to mine a small amount of a resource, rather than that equipment to its full potential, you are decreasing the profit margin.

 

True, but again, mars is easier to handle.

What does Mars have than the asteroid belt doesn't. It's got a thin atmosphere of 95.9% CO₂, too thin to be useful but just thick enough to make you worry about heat shields upon entry. It's got some minor minerals in the soil that might help plants grow, sure that's nice, but if you take a look outside at what crops grow in and what is on Mars, there's a very big discontinuity. After a year most of the soil resources would be depleted and you'd be trying to grow crops in very poor dirt. So you have two options, move to a new garden or import soil from earth. The first is a pain when you have to move a dome/bubble/habitat, and the second, while still a pain and a bit costly, would last for a very long time. Mars has some gravity, possibly enough to not cause detrimental physiological effects, certainly enough to make leaving expensive, a pain, and consume a lot of fuel you possibly don't have a lot of. Meanwhile, a small station in microgravity can simulate gravitational effects by spinning in a circle. You could have it spinning at "1G" normally, and increase or decrease that force as need be just by changing the rotation rate of the station. Mars is somewhat protected from radiation, yes, but the interior of an asteroid offers the same protection. It's not like miners would hang out on the surface of the asteroid.

 

What does an asteroid have that Mars doesn't? For one, we know exactly what we would be getting: A rock of extremely high metal content that requires minimal processing to be usable. Essentially metal ingots floating in space. In addition, there are asteroids which contain notable percentages of water, which is useful for drinking and growing crops, as well as a possible fuel source. On Mars, we have water at the poles, that would limit where you could go. We have very little idea of what's below the surface, and any mining project would require years of surveying and expeditionary mining, and you would be limited to the poles where your water is. Not to mention, martian metals would most likely be in an ore form, rather than pure, so you'll have to do a lot of processing and smelting to get a usable product. Asteroids don't have dust laying about, ask the Apollo astronauts how much of a delight moon dust was.

 

I'm going to complain to an asteroid, preferably a female one conscious about it's weight , that will teach you to be disrespectful about them.

im just going to leave this here

[*i]

I'm going to complain to an asteroid, preferably a female one conscious about it's weight , that will teach you to be disrespectful about them.

 

Mosquito -- Over the line. I know you were joking, but please avoid this line of humor. Thanks!

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Mosquito -- Over the line. I know you were joking, but please avoid this line of humor. Thanks!

OK and apologies to anyone who was offended, I realised it was very tasteless some time after posting but couldn't delete it in time.

 

 

Things about why asteroids were better.

OK, now you are just undermining the advantages of mars and overstating those of asteroids, that doesn't really help in taking the argument forward, I guess I i'll talk to you someday on calref.

[Sudanna]

I thought that mining Mars was what you wanted.