On Sat, 2 Feb 2008, randy.mcdonald@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
asked:
>I've a question relating to asteroid mining.
>[...] One thing does leave me puzzled: How did they plan to get the
>mineral resources in these asteroids down to Earth? Or did they not
>plan on that at all?
Well, if they were working from the 1970's Gerard K. O'Neill plan,
then off-Earth resources were meant for building (a) space colonies,
and colonies were for (b) solar power satellites. It was *energy*
shipped to Earth's surface, not matter.
In Jack Williamson's _Lifeburst_ (1984), metal is dropped to Earth's
surface in buckets on a large number of beanstalks. This is also used
to generate most of the world's electricity.
In one story in mid-90s _Analog_, the iron asteroid was carved into a
hollow, vacuum-filled sphere -- one that was *buoyant* in atmosphere
once it was deorbited. (The miners hung the balloon over the White
House, ready to rupture and drop it, if their demands weren't met.)
In Peter F. Hamilton's _The Naked God_ (2000, third book in his
"Night's Dawn Trilogy,") we finally get to Earth, and learn that
asteroid metal is shaped into hollow lifting bodies and dropped into
the ocean, then towed to refineries on the shoreline.
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