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Peter1469
04-23-2017, 08:32 PM
Space May Be Next Frontier for Earth's Crude Oil Giants: Analyst (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-23/space-the-final-frontier-seen-for-earth-s-crude-oil-giants)

Countries in the Middle East want to shift resource production into space.


The Middle East has an outsize impact on energy here on Earth. One analyst thinks some regional powerhouses may leverage that role into the development of natural resources in space.

Countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are developing space programs (http://www.space.gov.ae/about-the-agency) and investing in nascent private space commodity initiatives, said Tom James, a partner at energy consultant Navitas Resources. Doing so could give them a foothold in building extraterrestrial reserves of water -- a substance likely to fuel travel within space -- and other resources that could be used for in-space manufacturing.

OGIS
04-23-2017, 08:51 PM
Space May Be Next Frontier for Earth's Crude Oil Giants: Analyst (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-23/space-the-final-frontier-seen-for-earth-s-crude-oil-giants)

Countries in the Middle East want to shift resource production into space.


The article suggests moves into water, rare metals, etc.

What is also interesting is the fact that hydrocarbons (if not crude oil itself) apparently also exist in space. Titan's moon is supposedly awash in hydrocarbons, hundreds of times what is available here on Earth.

Though I can't see how it would be economical to bring it back all the way from Saturn....

http://www.space.com/4968-titan-oil-earth.html

OGIS
04-23-2017, 08:54 PM
The article suggests moves into water, rare metals, etc.

What is also interesting is the fact that hydrocarbons (if not crude oil itself) apparently also exist in space. Titan's moon is supposedly awash in hydrocarbons, hundreds of times what is available here on Earth.

Though I can't see how it would be economical to bring it back all the way from Saturn....

http://www.space.com/4968-titan-oil-earth.html


And then, of course, is the concept of airscoop-mining the outer atmospheres of the gas giants. Imagine miles-wide robot spacecraft that "dip" into the atmosphere to scoop up, condense, and store megatons of Helium3, Hydrogen, and other basic chemicals. Literally enough fuel for a million years or more.

Peter1469
04-24-2017, 04:31 AM
The article suggests moves into water, rare metals, etc.

What is also interesting is the fact that hydrocarbons (if not crude oil itself) apparently also exist in space. Titan's moon is supposedly awash in hydrocarbons, hundreds of times what is available here on Earth.

Though I can't see how it would be economical to bring it back all the way from Saturn....

http://www.space.com/4968-titan-oil-earth.html

I would think they would be better used to developed stuff in space.

Yes, hydrocarbons exist in space.

OGIS
04-24-2017, 07:21 AM
I would think they would be better used to developed stuff in space.

Yes, hydrocarbons exist in space.

Well, yes. That's been known for a while. Nebulae are basically huge, thin collections of hydrocarbon molecules. And I knew that Titan and other worlds/moons have methane, etc.

What I found surprising was the sheer quantity that seems to exist on Titan.