Against all odds, an asteroid mining company appears to be making headway

Economics and Feasibility

• Many argue asteroid mining is uneconomic with current launch costs and delta‑V; one back‑of‑envelope calculation suggests needing ~$350k/kg sale price vs current gold/platinum prices far below that.
• Reusable heavy‑lift (e.g., Starship‑class) and in‑space propellant could improve the math, but still require huge upfront infrastructure.
• Several see near‑term revenue mainly from selling science missions / sample returns rather than bulk mining.

What and Where to Mine

• Strong consensus that bulk commodities like iron make no sense for Earth import; Earth ore is extremely cheap.
• Platinum‑group and other precious metals are discussed, but multiple commenters point out that flooding supply would crash prices.
• Water/volatiles are widely seen as the most plausible early resource—for propellant, shielding, and life support in space.
• Some argue bootstrapping large‑scale industry is more plausible on a body like Mercury; others note asteroids are far better in delta‑V terms.

Transport, Orbits, and Reentry

• Moving entire asteroids into Earth or even lunar orbit is seen as extremely hard and risky; redirecting to impact Earth is called “insanely irresponsible.”
• Consensus that extracting and returning smaller, refined payloads is more realistic.
• Proposed methods: free‑return trajectories, ion drives using asteroid material as reaction mass, solar sails, mass drivers.
• Reentry options debated: capsules, Starship‑like vehicles, passive ablative “rocks,” or purpose‑built gliders; some say it’s a solved class of problems, others highlight scale and targeting risks.

Refining and Materials Science

• Major unsolved issue: how to separate ppm‑level precious metals from iron‑nickel alloy in vacuum, without water or acids.
• Ideas discussed: solar smelting, selective sublimation, zone melting, ionic/mass‑spectrometry‑style separation; throughput and temperature limits are major concerns.
• Several note that until an efficient in‑situ separation process exists, hauling mostly‑iron alloy is likely uneconomic.

Infrastructure, Robots, and Self‑Replication

• Mining is seen as only making sense for building things in space; NEO region is considered too resource‑poor for full independence for now.
• Some propose self‑reproducing robots built from in‑space materials; others dismiss this as highly speculative given current robotics and supply‑chain complexity.

Access Architectures: Elevators, Skyhooks, Rings

• Space elevator advocates cite carbon nanotubes and old NASA studies; skeptics note we still lack suitable large‑scale materials and manufacturing.
• Skyhooks/tethers and orbital rings are floated as potentially more feasible long‑term alternatives, but all are viewed as far‑future.

Safety, Governance, and Ethics

• Concerns about mis‑aimed asteroids causing extinction‑level impacts or regional devastation.
• Questions raised about ownership of captured asteroids and geopolitical issues around “orbital bombardment” capabilities.
• Some argue that if environmental externalities of Earth mining were fully priced, off‑world extraction might look better.

View of the Current Company

• Many see the firm’s concrete progress as modest: one failed spacecraft, planned flybys/docking demos, no real mining yet.
• Some perceive a “move fast, anti‑NASA” culture and compare the vibe to other overhyped ventures; others support ambitious experimentation even if near‑term profit is unlikely.