ConsenSys, a blockchain company with many branches but most involving Ethereum, the cryptocurrency co-founded by Joe Lubin, has purchased Planetary Resources. President & CEO Chris Lewicki and GC Brian Israel of Planetary Resources will join Consensus as part of the deal.
At first glance it seems like an awkward match, but think about it. Like Bitcoin, Ethereum requires large amounts of power to be mined. In space there is plenty of power, if you have the solar panels, but there is no way to get that power back to Earth easily where it can be sold. If you hook that power in orbit up to a computer mining Ethereum, the cryptocurrency can then easily be transmitted back to Earth - instant wealth.
Yes, it’s expensive to send solar panels into orbit, but that cost is coming down quickly with the success of private launch companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and Orbital Sciences. Also, those solar panels are 30% more efficient in space. If you are going to launch all those solar panels and crypto miner into orbit, why not send an asteroid prospector or miner with it?
Once asteroids are successfully mined, they can bring those valuable metals and water back to the orbital cryptocurrency mine. The metals can be stashed in re-entry capsules to be sent back to Earth. NASA has developed a new re-entry shield that would work well for this. The water can then be used to refuel the miner transport and send it to the Moon where the new Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway is in need of water to refuel the next mission to Mars.
Thus, these solar panels and crypto coin miners morph into way stations, maybe even space warehouses, for material that can fuel a nascent presence by mankind in space. Soon the warehouses have enough asteroid material to build a space habitat. Most of the habitat will be 3D printed in orbit and put together by AI drones. This is how it starts.
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