Science tidbits

[steuard]

I am really excited by what I've heard about Planetary Resources, a private company that has just announced plans to mine near-earth asteroids for precious metals and other resources. Here's a write-up from the Bad Astronomy blog that goes into details: it sounds like these folks have a plausible business plan (as well as the necessary level of

Comments

[madmanatw]

Yeah, I hadn't heard about the dark matter particle bit either. Fascinating.

The combination of the two items above make me wonder if you've seen this depressing article: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/may/10/crisis-big-science/?pagination=false .

[steuard]

Yep. I really don't have much to add to it, unfortunately. It makes its points pretty well, and I can't really disagree with any of them. Weinberg doesn't really propose a solution (apart from "government needs more money", which I'm sympathetic to, but saying it will accomplish precisely nothing), so there's not much to say on that front. (I don't have a solution, either

[robbbbbb]

If Planetary Resources excites you, then I highly recommend High Frontier. It is my current boardgame obsession, and it is awesome. I have only played it solo and two-player. I suspect it's more fun with more people. You can find a copy on Amazon for $48.

My favorite current boardgamegeek thread on that game is this one, discussing the Salt Water Zubrin thruster. The game designer contacted Dr. Zubrin and asked him about heat radiation off of his thruster design. Although this session report is a hoot, too.