By 
September 4th, 2018
Artist’s illustration of asteroid ISRU showing astronauts at an asteroid as well as other mining and transportation vehicles operating in space.
Credit: TransAstra Corporation & Anthony Longman
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is starting to earnestly evaluate space resources.
Since the 1870’s they’ve dealt with the Earth, but now attention is being paid to assay what benefits may or may not exist in tapping extraterrestrial water, minerals and metals.
Some asteroid resource advocates, for example, trot out pie-in-the-sky estimates of trillions of dollars in return for the investment.
Business plan for asteroid mining.
Credit: Joel Sercel/ICS Associates Inc. and TransAstra
Making the grade
A no-nonsense approach is being espoused by the USGS to accurately portray what truly “makes the grade” in terms of profitably exploiting off-Earth assets.
Check out my new Space.com story posted today:
The US Geological Survey Is Getting Serious About Space Resources and Mining
September 4, 2018 07:00am ET
https://www.space.com/41707-space-mining-usgs-resource-survey.html
Posted in Space News
