Just can't see anything like this happening until there's not just workable fusion power generation, but portable versions of that technology.... which at this rate and given the challenges currently facing humanity, pretty doubtful that will ever occur. The costs of equipment delivery, resupply, material recovery and transport would be literally astronomical. There's just no way it makes money.
this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Why fusion ? A portable fission reactor could do the job.
What would we be mining for that could possibly necessitate and justify the costs of transport (equipment and materials) there and back? Almost any resource would be cheaper to mine on Earth, and the only exceptions would still be so rare as to require gigantic energy inputs.
@uphillbothways Couldn't it be a staging ground, not just for lunar mining, but also asteroid mining?
Orbiting or landing on the moon seems like an unnecessary delta-v tollbooth if the eventual target is asteroid mining. Why would you slow down to get to the moon if you eventually have to speed back up to get out to the asteroid belt?
Why would you “slow down to get to the moon” when you started there?