Space mining startup set for launch in US

[OnlinePoker]

41. You wouldn't need bombs or ion drives

I think it was the L5 Society in the 70s that proposed using mass driver pushers to send asteroids into earth orbit for mining to create colonies in space. The material jettisoned out the back to provide the push would come from tailings produced by the miners processing rock as the ship made its way from the asteroid belt to earth. Recently, the proposals have been for space elevators which would need large asteroids as a counterweight for the elevator. Once the elevator is in place, mined material could be shuttled to earth without having to worry about re-entry. At the same time, large solar arrays could be constructed in space from the mined material and the electricity could pass down the cables of the elevator, negating the necessity of beaming microwaves into the atmosphere. I would love to see it in my lifetime (My grandfather was at the driving of the last spike of the CPR in 1885 and died in 1969 a day before man landed on the moon, so it could happen).