Economic exploitation of space

[Razgovory]

Something I've been wondering about.  What exactly can be taken or done in space that is worth money.  There are two things that spring to mind and I'm wondering if they are economically feasible or worth it.  When I say feasible I mean a more for a technologically advanced state then we are in now.


First one:  Asteroid mining.  This gets thrown around a lot.  Thing is, asteroid don't seem to be made of very special materials.  Mostly silicon, oxygen, carbon, iron and nickel.  Those are pretty common here.  I suppose they'd be handy if you were building something in space, but bringing it back to Earth doesn't seem like it would be economically profitable.  Are there asteroid made of more valuable or rarer elements?  Like uranium, gold, tungsten, etc?

Second one:  farming.  I remember this from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  In the novel the moon colonists grew crops on the moon in big greenhouses and sent them to Earth.  Is that really feasible?  Presumably they get more light on the Moon, but I would think the cold and need to bring up soil would be a problem.  I wouldn't think regolith would be good for planting crops in.


Honestly don't know much about these type of things, that's why I'm asking here.

[MadImmortalMan]

Some sort of energy production maybe. Solar arrays or orbital reactors. Tourism, of course. Definitely not farming.

[Barrister]

The trouble with taking advantage of anything economically in space is that the transportation costs are absolutely enormous.  As such anything you'd need to do would have to be extremely high value / weight.

Like MIM said energy production might be quite valuable, since theere is no weight at all.  And obviously the only commercial exploitation of space so far is the information from orbiting satellites.

Mining?  Companies are already exploring some incredibly inhospitable places for mining, so I wouldn't rule it out completely.  But obviously it wouldn't be for more common resources like iron.  But can you find gold or diamonds on an asteroid?

Farming absolutely not.  It's a hell of a lot easier to use "big greenhouses" here on earth.

[Zanza]

Communications (TV, phone, internet) via satellites seems to be economical.

[The Brain]

Space factories producing space goods for the space masses.

[alfred russel]

It would seem more likely to farm in the Antarctic before the moon.

[PDH]

Astronaut bread for the masses!

[Siege]

The trouble with taking advantage of anything economically in space is that the transportation costs are absolutely enormous.  As such anything you'd need to do would have to be extremely high value / weight.

The Space Elevator (tm) will solve this problem.

[Siege]

It would seem more likely to farm in the Antarctic before the moon.

Humm, now THAT is an idea!

[Ed Anger]

Shooting Tim into the Sun for fun and entertainment.

[Siege]

Shooting Tim into the Sun for fun and entertainment.

Your hatred is undeserved.
Tim is an undispensable member of this forum.
Unlike you.

[Razgovory]

The trouble with taking advantage of anything economically in space is that the transportation costs are absolutely enormous.  As such anything you'd need to do would have to be extremely high value / weight.

The Space Elevator (tm) will solve this problem.

What do you intend to make it out of?

[Ed Anger]

Shooting Tim into the Sun for fun and entertainment.

Your hatred is undeserved.
Tim is an undispensable member of this forum.
Unlike you.

Jehovah.

[jimmy olsen]

The trouble with taking advantage of anything economically in space is that the transportation costs are absolutely enormous.  As such anything you'd need to do would have to be extremely high value / weight.

The Space Elevator (tm) will solve this problem.

What do you intend to make it out of?

Carbon nanotubes.

[Razgovory]

I asked Siege not you.