How do you become a millionaire in the airline industry? goes the old gag. Answer: Start with a billion. For mining asteroids, that standard joke may need to be adapted to 'start with a trillion'. The news that a start-up company of Internet billionaires, Planetary Resources, is to attempt to robotically mine asteroids should be welcomed. It certainly is an ambitious and long-term plan, and its team includes experienced ex-NASA scientists, as well as those with very deep pockets.
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