# Expensive asteroid found **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482 "2020-11-01T14:46:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/41 "2020-11-02T15:26:23Z")
🙄 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/42 "2020-11-02T17:45:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > f we gave Psyche the appropriate angular momentum and just set it gently in the rough center of the floor of the Pacific at, say, 0N180W then what happens next? It’s impossible that the asteroid has sufficient rigidity to stay in one piece in a one-g gravitational field. It’s going to immediately slump into a big mound, and keep on slumping until it’s no taller than a high mountain. And probably eventually into a medium-sized mountain. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/43 "2020-11-02T18:02:35Z")
Brings this classic Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge comic to mind [http://vlcomic.com/read/comic-uncle-scrooge-1953-eng/135](http://vlcomic.com/read/comic-uncle-scrooge-1953-eng/135) > **[Golden Moon](https://scrooge-mcduck.fandom.com/wiki/Golden_Moon)** > > The Golden Moon is one of Earth's natural satellites. In the Prime Universe, the Moon conceals a smaller natural satellite, whose existence was only discovered in 1958 by a new artifical satellite. This Golden Moon, about five hundred miles in... ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/44 "2020-11-02T18:55:04Z")
Good thought. I’m away from my PC so can’t do the calcs. But … All that slumping will release a metric shitload of heat. Not near enough to boil the Pacific. Still enough to add some spice to the general chaos. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/45 "2020-11-02T21:35:40Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > It’s impossible that the asteroid has sufficient rigidity to stay in one piece in a one-g gravitational field. It’s going to immediately slump into a big mound, and keep on slumping until it’s no taller than a high mountain. And probably eventually into a medium-sized mountain. But at 25-30 times the thickness of the ocean crust, I’m thinking it would tear through it like a wet paper towel as soon as it touches down–especially since the heat from the pressure would melt the crust under it. I’m thinking the whole thing would go completely into the mantle and start sinking to the core as quickly as slumping would happen. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/46 "2020-11-02T22:15:22Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > But at 25-30 times the thickness of the ocean crust, I’m thinking … And with something in the vicinity of triple the density of said thin crust I’m now thinking it’ll be deep into the mantle real quickly. Like in minutes. It won’t be buoyant for long. Though it would be fun as a separate experiment to place Psyche on an infinitely strong platform in a 1G gravity field and simulate what happens next. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/47 "2020-12-08T00:51:34Z")
The trick is to drop a really humungo-biggley asteroid so it causes a lopolith. Shazam! More iron and nickel coming up from the mantle than you can shake a head frame at. (Of course it would take a bit of time to work out some minor details after the impact.) ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/48 "2020-12-08T03:18:50Z")
It costs $10,000 per pound to send something up to orbit. Once in orbit, you’re halfway there to anywhere in the solar system. Why spend so much to put iron up there when you can just access the iron ALREADY there? Send up the makings of a low-G solar-powered forge! ---
**Author:** ![cannon\_gray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannon_gray/32/6030_2.png) [@cannon\_gray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cannon_gray)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/49 "2021-01-04T08:12:55Z")
There is no need to get the resources from the asteroids cause asteroid material already regularly arrives at Earth in the form of meteorites. In addition, the Earth itself contains the same composition of chemical elements as the surrounding space bodies. The results of ancient eruptions, such as the kimberlite pipes of Yakutia, the Konder ridge, or the Putorana plateau, contain an increased concentration of metals, which we can still extract for hundreds or thousands of years. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/50 "2021-01-04T12:08:09Z")
You misunderstand the point of mining asteroids. It’s not that we’re running out of minerals down here on Earth. It’s that it costs a lot to loft those Earth-bound metals into space. If we can get them up there, we’re saving lots of launches and money. ---
**Author:** ![cannon\_gray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannon_gray/32/6030_2.png) [@cannon\_gray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cannon_gray)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/51 "2021-01-05T08:03:56Z")
Well, then it makes sense. Thanks for pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482/52 "2021-01-24T13:12:36Z")
When I visited Jamestown they made glass there because it was very valuable in England . They cut down so many trees in England to heat houses wood was in short supply and the US had plenty of wood for fires to make glass. Eventually England used coal to heat houses but not in 1607 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expensive-asteroid-found/924482.md?page=2)