There are enough metals and volatiles in the asteroid belt to last for the next 10,000 years, even with the current rate of increase of use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining
If countries that don't have access to space invest in companies that do, they still get a share of the profits & access to the goods generated.
The more resources we get from space, the less we use from our world, putting less strain on the environment. And the more profits generated, the more we plow back into restoring our environment to it's pre-industrial levels.
This doesn't even take into account the spin offs & advances that'll occur from the research needed to create the equipment and infrastructure to mine the asteroids, just like what happened with the Apollo program.
Sounds pretty much like a win-win situation to me.
Scotswolf_otaku t1_j1zvdnz wrote
Reply to Is mining in space socially acceptable? by Gari_305
Why shouldn't it be?
The amount of resources on Earth is finite.
There are enough metals and volatiles in the asteroid belt to last for the next 10,000 years, even with the current rate of increase of use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining
If countries that don't have access to space invest in companies that do, they still get a share of the profits & access to the goods generated.
The more resources we get from space, the less we use from our world, putting less strain on the environment. And the more profits generated, the more we plow back into restoring our environment to it's pre-industrial levels.
This doesn't even take into account the spin offs & advances that'll occur from the research needed to create the equipment and infrastructure to mine the asteroids, just like what happened with the Apollo program.
Sounds pretty much like a win-win situation to me.