Wow.. JAMES CAMERON wants to mine ASTEROIDS !

It better be called the "Weyland Corp."

Not in our lifetime, sorry.

I am just waiting for him to build a time-machine so he can ride on the actual Titanic. Seriosusly, that man is fking obsessed with it...

think he`ll live that long

Further... The firm is to be called [b]PLANETARY RESOURCES[/b]. It has a very large group of billionaire backers. Official launch is set for Tuesday April 24th with a press conference in Seattle. Some more info here... [url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57416120-76/is-asteroid-mining-in-our-near-future/]CNet Cameron story link here...[/url] Well say what you will about the guy. He just may be the very "NUT" required to get something like this going as anything to do with space has been a virtual standstill where actual world governments are concerned. But.. Do we really want or NEED this???

Would be cool but I cant see how it would be practical getting drilling equipment and ore in and out of a huge gravity well.

The official conference has not happened yet, but some more details being reported this morning... The plan is to latch on to 500 tonne (or so) asteriods with a small unmanned craft and then SLOWLY tow it to either a moon or Earth orbit. I think they said there is an estimate of 1,500 or so asteroids like this within our solar system. Not sure of the actual mining process, but a study from Caltech estimates that these types of small asteroids can contain as much as 25 BILLION worth of Platinum and other rare Earth minerals.

I saw several live TV interviews on this topic yesterday evening... Wow! This thing is really already in progress and very do-able! And just to clarify.. CAMERON is really just a bit player in this.. There are many, many high-rollers invoved here. And this is not one of those "it wont happen in our lifetime pipedreams" but they aree very confident that the initial phases of this thing will be well underway within the NEXT 10 YEARS !!! Know, my excitement over this whole thing has now been tempered with the thought that petty & possesive governments will really NEVER let this happen... simply because, they do not want to be eclipsed by PRIVATE for PROFIT corporations run by investors seeking returns. And if for no other reason, something like this will make tax payer run SPACE PROGRAMS seem like nothing more than bloated "pork projects". When NASA is now having to rely on private companies having to come up with working plans to actually get things done in deep space, it is basically an indictment against the organization and the "International Space Station". I would not be the least bit surprised to see some form of UN style BS "resolution" passed by familiar players essentially declaring that any PRIVATE interstellar activities will be declared as ILLEGAL, or new governmental bureaucracies will be quickly created for no other pupose than to completely reign these kinds of forward thinking ideas in and crush them in their tracks.

Cameron is quite the ambitious guy with his far-fetched goals, isn't he? We haven't gone as far as making a colony on the Moon yet. He's apparently getting ahead of himself.

He did [b]THIS[/b] too recently, the Opposite !!! [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/1925]TheDeepestPoint[/url]

it seems to me Good Old James has been searching for our Physical Limitations..I.e.. The Roof or Ceilling & The Basement Floor!!!