Name one realistic benefit of space exploration that would justify its costs

Making giant phallic objects.

Turning space related research from an essentially experimental/hypothetical thing to a practical science with financial based incentives to reduce cost by developing better/more efficient technology/methods.

That costs more to get to than you get out of it
I said realistic

>That costs more to get to than you get out of it
today perhaps, who knows what the future holds

>That costs more to get to than you get out of it

for now. Space exploration is exactly what will help develop the science to make it worthwhile.

>That costs more to get to than you get out of it
For now yes. But our resources on this planet are finite. As our supply dwindles, prices go up. Eventually it hits a point where it would literally be cheaper to go to fucking space to get the materials you need than to source them on Earth. This is the point at which space exploration will really kick off.

We require more minerals

Asteroids.

But I'm fine with my GPS on my phone working.

BONUS POINT: I want to be alive and watch the streaming video of when a military drops a tungsten rod from orbit on some random terrorist schleb.

It was in the '50's

What actual benefits would this have?

Lol, look at these fucking retards. Space mining will never be practical. This isn't a science fiction show where technology magically improves to do whatever the plot needs it to do.

Mining asteroids would be practical to build things that are going to stay in space.
It costs a lot to launch raw materials from Earth, if we ever want to try to make something like large semi-sustainable space stations, mining asteroids would be practical.

Don't worry. If we sit around and do nothing with our space program, the minerals from the asteroid will eventually come to us.

>This isn't a science fiction show where technology magically improves to do whatever the plot needs it to do
he said, as he instantly posted this information to the internet for the entire world to read using a computer
youtube.com/watch?v=ykxMqtuM6Ko

>space travel is practical because computers exist

leaving islam behind

which begs the original question. what could be worth building in space with materials sourced from an asteroid that justifies its costs?

spreading our shit, you know

t. Engineer

This thread is moronic. Recently an asteroid less than 1KM long passed the earth, containing more than $5.4 trillion worth of platinum - and all in heavily-dense pockets instead of just barely poking out when you tunnel down miles.

Once we figure out getting materials safely back down to earth (SpaceX well on the way), and can assemble mining robots (or even hacking-into-small-pieces robots) to get the platinum into the earthbound capsules, you're Rockefeller times 100.

What do you think we're going to do once China's heavy metals run out - stop making smartphones when a thousands tonnes of what you need is flying by every day?

The exploration is a good in of itself

Space touism

>if I introduce thousands of tons of platinum into the market, I will make trillions!
why is Veeky Forums so retarded? do you really not understand the simple concept of supply and demand?

the spanish monarchy is alive and well here

So humanity can outlive Earth

Exploring the Atlantic sea way back when was also costly and not really worth it. Then the New World was discovered.

You'd make a fuckload of money, yeah. You think that material would be easily available? It'd be more plentiful, but still expensive as fuck - it'd have to be, because of the astronomical (haha) costs associated with extracting and retrieving it. Worth it, but expensive. It's not like you would be able to "flood the market" even if you wanted to.

He is not literally saying we would be able to mine thousands of tonnes of platinum every day, you idiot.

Explain to me why even though we need water to live and yet you could sell hundreds of bottles of it and not come close to the value of a moderately large shiny polished rock that humans don't need to live.

If you do this correctly you'll realize what is fundamentally wrong with your post. Don't get me wrong, space mining is cool and I think there's money to be made but you just made a retard jump in logic in that post of yours

It's not quite the same though. In the space age we have had the technology to observe the places we have explored before actually exploring them.

>there are people who actually think this way

I'm calling it now, this is bait.

the point is, the platinum industry is not and never will be worth $5.6 trillion, or even $100 billion (assuming no inflation). bringing that much platinum into the market will not change this, there is a limited amount of utility that can be derived from it.

Kek, space has so many resources it will be the death of wealth and worth. Everything will be worthless because we will be able to farm planets where it rains diamonds, gas giants with massive, unthinkable quantities of burnable fuels.

But yeah, totally worthless, right OP?

OK, yeah, obviously you're right about that - platinum is never going to make anybody into Rockefeller times 100 (or even Rockefeller times 1). Maybe he read "$5.4 trillion worth of platinum" and got a little overexcited.

Details aside, though, his point's a fair one, that asteroid mining does have the potential to be pretty fucking lucrative once the kinks are worked out and it gets off the ground (haha. hah. ha.)

Potential insurance policy against global disaster.

That is exactly backwards.

no, that would be a scientist.
engineers would make cheap ass poles.

finding some kind of new strong material that will make you some dandy profit

>humans want electronics
>gold and platinum and shit are useful for electronics
>precious metals are more common in asteroids than on earth
>???????

Also, I want to hit niggers in the head with an osmium nightstick.