It gives somebody a reason to be up there and something to do while up there.
The New York Times has a story on it:
quotes:
Drawing on nearby asteroids for natural resources is actually a very old idea.
In 1926, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian scientist who worked out many of the basic requirements of rockets and space travel, listed colonization of the asteroid belt as number 12 of 16 steps in his “plan of space exploration.”
Also
“The collective net worth of our investors is like $50 billion, and they know what they’re getting into.”
Shoot, their net worth is 1/3 the cost of the Apollo Program in 2005 dollars. Money shouldn't be an issue.
The energy requirements are less than that of getting to the moon. If SpaceX can come through with a successful mission, which is now slated for early May, this could be the beginning of something big.
Update via Next Big Future and Al Fin
A picture are worth a thousand words, so here's a video
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