We Solve for X: Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson on space exploration

Problem: If humanity is to move off Earth and become an interplanetary species, it will need an economic reason to do so.
Solution: Near-earth asteroids contain (literally) trillions of dollars worth of resources and materials that could be harvested and brought back to Earth. A number of them are also energetically easier to get to than the surface of the Moon. That tremendous bounty creates a huge incentive for the private sector to create the requisite detection, propulsion and harvesting technology to capture these precious metals and minerals.
Technology: Planetary resources led by Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson is developing the technology and spacecraft to detect, harvest, capture and bring back these resources from Near-Earth asteroids.
More on we.SolveforX.com.

[@MoriartySan]

I think this video changed my life. All I want to do now is work is this industry. As it grows and flourishes.

[@ThomasBaxter]

This really gets me going. So so happy to hear people are striving for space with the business model to make it real.

[@swordarmstudios6052]

This isn't utopia. This is man made, incremental progress. It is brilliantly done, represents American Innovation, at its finest, and I wish the best of Luck. Peter Diamandis is of the belief, that if this works, the first people to mine these asteroids will be the planets first trillionares. I cannot be sure that it will be him, or the people that do it with him. But if they do, then the world will be an infinitely better place.

[@elainepul]

This was a superior presentation, 30 min went by and it felt like seconds. Even though there might be a problem with the raining even if it is 60 miles per hour there or other projects it could interfere with even though space mining is a major need so are some of the other projects. Loved this presentation.

[@luongbui986]

This is really awesome. And inspiring. Of everything being said in this video, one thing get stuck in my head: claiming process. Because if you can claim something, then someone else can rob it from you. And if a private entity can build spacecrafts to mine asteroids, then I think is feasible for another private entity to build them for piracy. "Just" take the pods with processed ore, when they are near Earth. How long will it takes for "space piracy sector" to emerge?

[@Obseltoro]

Muy bueno me gusto la idea y la visión....saludos y éxitos!!!

[@elainepul]

Wise and truthful quote on the cradle of humanity.

[@ridhouanemathlouthi60]

This is just too much impressive .. I dont know what to say, except I wish I would be part of the adventure one day.

[@dklimov555]

Literally a brilliant talk!

[@SeanLumly]

This talk was outstanding. Perfect for pragmatic dreamers.

[@ThomasBaxter]

What about processing a volitile rich asteroid?

[@alokbisani]

Fascinating stuff !!! 28:29 Metal Foam: Pt 23 g/cc? is actually only 21.45 g/cc Air at 15 deg sea level 0.00123 g/cc

[@tjpld]

I hope I can see the future I'd like to see with +1 million people living in space in my lifetime and can still be part of it. Not when I'm 90 in 65 years. Looking back that in the last 40 years after the moon landing not much has been done makes me skeptical and sad though.

[@heckyes]

I think it's because people don't know the difference between critique and questioning versus outright insults. It appears to me that anytime someone has any kind of opposing view as someone they immediately go on the defensive. In other words people have low self esteem and ego issues. I too love discussion and I think it's the most important thing for our species to be engaging in right now yet it's very difficult to come by on the internet.

[@heltok]

great talk!

[@Mariopreciado]

What's the name of the company?

[@arjunsoccer918]

Hello! Have you heard about the Tube Cash Exposure? I discovered it on Google Search and listened to fantastic stuff about it. A lot of my mate also advise me to try it

[@somerando7191]

If we could effectively harvest energy and raw materials from space the economy may never stop growing. There are mind bending quantities of resources just in our asteroid belt. Far more than the entire earth. If this pans out and we mine all near earth asteroids, the belt its self would be the next leap forward.

[@kylehall3946]

Agreed.

[@Dgfrmxon]

The value proposition just isn't what they think it is. I was just reading about this on Quora from people who actually work for NASA, and they see it. The price for material transit is just too much, and the limited markets where it's viable just aren't big enough. The only economic thing you'll get is propellant. Problem is, propellant makes space exploration cheaper. Still doesn't give it a product. It may never have a product, the only real case is exploration/colonization oriented

[@OktaSomnii]

Ohhhhh - this is the first sad "Solve for X" talk I have seen. Hopefully there won't be no other unrealistic talk like that again. Anyway - THANK YOU GOOGLE !! keep up the GOOD work!!

[@heckyes]

I feel ya man.

[@heckyes]

Oh dude! Yes yes and yes! Space IS the next frontier. Fuck, I'm actually quite angry that I'll probably long dead before we are in Space but god damn, I just wanna do all I can to insure the species gets out there like sooo sooo sooo many wonderful people in the past have contributed.

[@leapgamer]

It would definitely be negligible. All of the mass of every asteroid in the system combined is less than the mass of the moon.

[@anteeko]

How can you orbit an asteroid.. the gravity most be so weak..

[@heckyes]

Yup, that and the fact that no one is really taught how to communicate effectively. It doesn't help either that school and the justice system breeds a healthy fear into being wrong into all of us at a very early age as well.

[@33rdsquare]

Planetary Resources

[@Qazic12]

The end of economic growth in this millennium is pretty much inevitable given that the laws of thermodynamics dictate that energy is a finite resource. I hope that harvesting raw materials and energy from outer space will delay it.

[@albalma]

We do not need to land on other planets, all we need to do is build a space station that is large enough to sustain thousands, hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of individuals. We do not need to constrain ourselves to planetary gravity when centrifugal forces can help remove the gravitational problems posed by space exploration. Planet fall does not make economic sense when you could put more humans than you can send into space today in a moderately small space station.

[@alokbisani]

29:41 TODO: Verify the terminal velocity of 60 miles/hr for these space platinum foam balls ...

[@retron23]

25:12 "The law" he's talking about is a substantial body of international agreements going back to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Back then there were two warring superpowers in a space race and the 'simplistic policies' dealt with issues like staking claims on the moon, building military bases there, etc. Now there are over 70 nations and countless private companies involved in space, and legality is generally established within the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. So good luck.

[@chriswhite777]

i believe though that this should still be a global affair, imagine war on hold to push this kind of tech and industry

[@TJRossco]

"Of the 245 tonnes of platinum sold in 2010, 113 tonnes were used for vehicle emissions control devices (46%), 76 tonnes for jewelry (31%). The remaining 35.5 tonnes went to various other minor applications, such as investment, electrodes, anticancer drugs, oxygen sensors, spark plugs and turbine engines.[43]" I have great respect for Mr. Diamandis and his way of leveraging competition and collaboration to solve great problems and challenge the status quo. However, I would think that his (our) resources would be better used to reduce our need for economic growth and consumption than to find new ways of fuelling it. For instance, the above Wikipedia entry for "Platinum" suggests that replacing the internal combustion engine (should be a priority anyways) and making do without fancy jewellery (any other dudes here even know what platinum looks like?? lol) would eliminate almost 80% of the demand for Platinum. Just a thought.

[@frankmueller2781]

Ty Ross You have totally failed to grasp what drives mankind to greatness. You advocate a form of utopian "Stasis" for humanity. Nothing is more likely to lead to our extinction than such a stasis. Like muscles, humanity only grows when faced with stress and opposition. That's why wars and conflicts bring out not only the worst, but also the best of humanity. Your plan will lead to cultural and intellectual atrophy. Like other "Utopias", it will never work for us. We thrive in conflict, so let us ho forth and conquer space, otherwise we'll end up trying to conquer each other.

[@ThomasBaxter]

Is there any current agency dealing with global space-law? Also "space law" makes me want to not follow Shakespeare's advice.... to the letter at least

[@phookadude]

Laser communications would not work. The lasers needed to use the lunar rangefinder reflectors are bigger than that satellite and require allot of energy. They probably won't get allot smaller due to physical limitations. If the probes get out near mars then the lasers needed would be building sized. Not to mention how accurately you'd have to point the lasers back at earth to receive a signal.

[@mr6r4y]

What if you go there with "tin boxes" to mine metals and meet other "miners" working for big "corporations" unwilling to share such a resource ...

[@retron23]

Who needs to build "pirate spacecraft?" As Eric Anderson points out these are cheap unmanned robotic drones. The threat is not from other spacecraft it's hackers right here on Earth. There's already cyberwarefare issues with military satellites and with private enterprise it's going to make things much more difficult.

[@Stepherner]

Questions after questions...

[@mzungu54]

Modern day snake oil ?! There is 5.972E24 kg of perfectly "minerable asteroid" right underneath your feet. I don't know if anyone seen the size of the facility here on earth that we use for producing liquid Oxygen and Hydrogen....they are huge, and energy intensive... It's probably cheaper to scope them off the atmosphere...

[@stuffedk]

Uhm, I don't buy the "tons of energy" and the easy foam part of this presentation. Extracting enough energy will require a lot of mass, as will producing the foam in space. And mass is the expensive part of any space endeavor. The real question that should be asked is not "is this possible?", it is "will it be cheaper than just mining it on earth?" I think I am skeptical but open minded, unfortunately I don't think this presentation answered any of the tough questions.

[@heckyes]

I don't think we can or need to be "absolutely" humble, I'm not sure why you are asking me that question unless it was just part of your rhetoric. I agree, I don't really think the humanity can live in a Utopia for many reasons, but the most important one being that Utopia is perfection and imaginary.

[@elnurmehdiyev5062]

I do not know, but I've watched this presentation from the beginning to the end and during whole presentation I wanted to ask "What is your point?" ....Too many unnecessary information given, and presentation was made in very poor format. What means 1-2 meter resolution? People who pay 4 million dollars would want to know in presize, not in between 1-2 meter, just put 1.5 meter if it's average, but it'll deliver exact info.....

[@vasiliytriandafilidi4557]

Did you notice him saying about the "Tungusskiy meteorite" to be in Kazahstan or Ukraine? =)

[@albalma]

Furthermore, why not just build a robot capable of replicating itself and building a factory in space that would allow space exploration to be nearly free and allow us to harvest the resources? The problem is in the cost economics, not in the infinitely free work of a mass of self-replicating robots. You think of a machine capable of processing data, why not process it all up there, hardware and freight capacity in all?

[@tjpld]

Make this the size of a Coca Cola Can in 10 years for 1/10th of the cost and 5x the performance.

[@Alephzorg]

Someone cares to explain how that plan makes humankind a multiplanetary species when at no point are humans required to go into space?

[@charliebrown7528]

Has anything gone into space yet?

[@frankmueller2781]

Charlie Brown yes, several proto types.

[@Machine_State]

Very, very slowly.

[@shemeck1]

In the middle of Ukraine is Kiev - city just 1 mln smaller than Washington.

[@zapfanzapfan]

Yeah, he made a mistake there, the asteroid (or maybe comet) exploded over Siberia and as far as it is known didn't kill anyone... if it had exploded over Ukraine it would have killed millions.

[@zapfanzapfan]

4 years later and still no telescope in orbit... take peoples estimates and multiply by pi :-)

[@AdmiralQuality]

Hire me!!!

[@heckyes]

Do you understand what the word humility entails? Do you think that a species that is humble would spend zillions on military? Obviously I'm all for the critique of anything that doesn't help our species prosper. As for saving our species from an asteroid we're probably going to need to save it from ourselves before that happens and we can't do that until our population decreases drastically or we learn some humility and sharing.

[@brendarossi110]

Fb . ,oo

[@SolRosenberg84]

didn'twatchthevideo.jpg

[@truthbetold2012]

differential gravity settling?..lol....asteroids with dollar signs orbiting a giant toad.. peter you've been listening to james cameron again hollywood investment ops...I note you already state this on your wikipedia my bad...carry on

[@shemeck1]

I agree with the video, bu the middle of Ukraine is dense populated terrain. And i think that if somebody want to send robots to space, should learn some basic geography first. And not, im not from Ukraine.

[@heckyes]

"These goals are highly symbiotic if we approach them thoughtfully." Yes, and a thoughtful and symbiotic approach would include some aspect of maturity of humility would it not? And what do you say to your social democrat friends when they state their caveats?

[@SolRosenberg84]

Yeah, that's nice, but I'm on team people. We live on a rock in space. The rock can get hit by shit. No matter how much money we spend helping some poor folks on the other side of the rock, it isn't worth shit if the rock gets destroyed. The more resources we spend on figuring out how to exist independently of the rock, the better. Maybe you should criticize the rabid spending on military technology and weapons before going after the ventures that might give our species a hope of a future.

[@calvinsylveste8474]

How do you go about claiming an asteroid if it is explicitly against the space treaty? what's to stop me from waiting until you've found a resource rich asteroid and send lots of my own robo harvester to extract as much of it as quickly as i can. I will make more profit since i don't have to waste money prospecting, just wait for you to do that part and just setup shop on any rock in which you show repeated interest...rinse...repeat. Btw, if you are interested in this patented method of doing business the license rates are very very low.

[@wordgeezer]

Well said...History repeats itself.

[@bergonius]

Who cares

[@cf1Funkmaster]

boy this didn't age well lol...

[@c.johnsmith3823]

Pointless crap. We should talk about developing Antarctica or the ocean floors first. The moon rocks cost over 25,000 dollars a pound to bring to Earth. (in 1970's dollars)

[@robertgraybeard3750]

C. John Smith The prototype, the first, is always expensive. Eventually, mass production will bring the cost down.

[@treva31]

Great talk but if you insist on using the word literally so much, please use it correctly lol. The solar system does not have "literally infinite resources" and 594,705 asteroids is not "literally 600,000".

[@robertgraybeard3750]

Trevor Lancaster Agreed, perhaps they should have said "an astronomical amount of resources" and "millions of 'small' asteroids".

[@robertgraybeard3750]

Trevor Lancaster Another thought - once humanity succeeds in getting out into the solar system, the next step will be getting out into the galaxy, and then the universe - a good approximation of infinite resources.

[@oker59]

Zyvex is missing out due to socio-politics and poor foresight that these guys have;