Mining the sky
What would it be like if entrepreneurs could literally "mine the sky" to solve Earth's three major fulfillment problems: energy, mineral resources, and food? That is the engaging premise of John S. Lewis's visionary new book. What if we could chemically break down the atmosphere of Mars for substances that can be used as spacecraft propellants; hollow out asteroids to transform them into livable habitats for billions of space-bound homesteaders; mine the asteroids for precious metals to be used in space construction projects; milk the comets and the moons of Mars for their vast supplies of water; extract helium from moon rocks and radioactive minerals from asteroids, for use as fuel in fusion reactors? With the expansive reach of science fiction, John Lewis's Mining the Sky shows just how these plans are achievable using technology that either exists already or will become available in the very near future. Based on his decades of work at the Lunar Planetary Institute in Tucson, Arizona, Lewis makes the bold proposal that the depletion of the earth's natural resources, as well as the overpopulation of the planet, are solvable problems; indeed, that the unlimited wealth of resources orbiting the sun will ultimately sustain ten quadrillion people living in the many worlds - both natural and man-made - that will compose our enhanced solar system.
Stats for nerds
9recommend
12mentions
11people
2008–2023years
75% recommend25% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Are you familiar with the writings of Malthus? Predictions of humanity’s growth-fueled demise are not new.
> is there any future in which the humans race does not choke itself with its own overgrowth?
There are three primary ideas that give me hope in the future of humanity.
The first is space settlement, especially on orbital colonies. The books The High Frontier and Mining the Sky are great introductions to this concept. And after a long “space winter”, it’s gaining steam.
The second is the humble concept of recycling. I believe technological progress will allow us to recycle the vast majority of materials that we use to build our civilization. Current directions in this field are enzymatic decomposition and AI-enabled visual separation of matter.
Finally, I have hope in the future of humanity based on the fact that those with higher quality of life and education tend to have fewer children.
These things together paint a picture of a next century with fewer total humans on earth living with much higher life quality and efficiency, with an expanding frontier of orbital colonies of adventurers. This frontier will in turn become a comfortable civilization that can sustain trillions, before we even discuss the possibility of life outside our solar system.
Lofty? Yes. But look at how far we have come and note that indications for high QOL and high tech are accelerating, not slowing down. There will be challenge after challenge, but we will get to a fundamentally brighter future with different problems, make no mistake.
That is, we will get there if we have engaged citizens of democracies all over the world who believe in and act on their power. Political will is the bottleneck.
- If you're interested in space mining there's an excellent book called Mining The Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets by John S. Lewis that goes into great detail about the how space mining and building in space could work
- At this point a reference to the groundbreaking and utterly fascinating "Mining the Sky" book by John S. Lewis is in order which should be on everyone's "must read" list.
- I don't understand why Musk is so focused on a Mars Colony. Why go to all the effort of climbing out of one gravity well just to drop yourself down another?
It be a lot easier to mine asteroids and build colonies in Earth or solar orbit. And potentially hugely profitable if they choose a platinum-rich asteroid.
See further: 'The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space' by Gerard K. O'Neill
'Mining the Sky' by John S. Lewis
- For those who are interesting finding out more I would recommend: Mining the Sky by John S. Lewis. It's an excellent book that discusses in length the composition of NEO, possible retrieval methods and economics of such an endeavour.
http://www.amazon.fr/Mining-The-Sky-Asteroids-Planets/dp/020...
- If this kind of thing interests you and you haven't read it yet, it might be worth reading "Mining the Sky" by John S. Lewis which goes into how this could in theory be done without enormous advancements in technology and what the value would be.
