Space mining startup set for launch in US

[mojowork_n]

140. I'm not convinced. Sorry.

I'm not disputing that planets in orbit are "falling" all the time, or that
it's not possible to steer an asteroid into a more accessible orbit.

What concerns me is what happens after the pool cue strikes the "ball."

What if the asteroid breaks up as a result of the push, and several of
the new, smaller, asteroid-lets -- in turn -- smash into each other. Might
not one -- or more -- of the still-sizable chunks of rock end up with no
better place to go, than in our direction?

That's only one assumption going wrong.

...How many others is it possible to imagine?

"Oh, no!" the startled crew of the earth ship screamed in unison. An
unusually immense solar flare at exactly the wrong instant had temporarily
shut down their computer network, just as they were moving in to
position....

...the critical count was interrupted when unlucky Larry, the second-in-
command (the curly-haired and most "normal-looking" of the three
astronauts) suffered a stroke...

...Or who could have predicted that some of the accountant's cost-
cutting -- that also helped five congressman retire -- might have led
to chemical deterioration, that made it possible for the spark to ignite....