Simple steps to the future of mining and a permanent solution to the problem of dwindling resources.

The problems faced by us all with resource scarcity and the possible solutions on the horizon. Even though they might seem unrealistic they can still be envisioned by the average person with a reasonable science understanding. Would it surprise you that the needle indicating the amount of certain resources essential to our technological way of life are running near empty? If the current level of demand for non-renewable resources such as copper, Indium and even Silver will be depleted in under 30 years! This might not seem to bad for many of us but it will cause many headaches for our children. So if we can't get these resources from existing mines any-more where can we get them? One solution that is being given thought to these days is to acquire rare elements from near earth passing asteroids. Ok this might sound like something from the pages of a science fiction novel but there are many people saying this devoid of a smile on their face. There are quite a few companies making plans to undertake this monumental challenge and they do have the expertise and money to attempt it. So why should we even attempt it? - Asteroids are made from the same materials the earth was when it was just forming and contain rich amounts of Iron, Nickel and water ice which can used to make rocket fuel amongst other things. The real money spinner is the Platinum group metals that are rare and therefore expensive here on earth but occur in larger concentrations within many asteroids. Most of the PGMs that is mined in the world today came from asteroid impacts in the past – so you could say we have been mining them for some time. Mining asteroids – how difficult could it be? Even though its just mining not to much dissimilar to how we acquire raw resources on earth it has to be done millions of miles away in the vacuum of space and at the temperature of space. Some people say that lassoing an asteroid so that it could be processed in earth orbit is one option, another is to mine it in its own near earth orbit and bring the resources back to earth. There are concerns that these ideas bring up, such as if the asteroid where to collide with the Earth to what effect the extra mass in orbit might have on our orbit to the effect on precious metal prices. Concerns that are as unrealistic as asteroid mining is today. A more down to earth solution being looked into is deep sea mining. Surveyors have found considerable deposits of base and precious metals in areas with hydrothermal vents which is great news. This idea is no more easier or less expensive than missions to mine asteroids and it would cause destruction to some unique ecosystems found under no other conditions. I doubt such a concern will be taken into consideration and deep sea mining will go ahead anyway as the sea floor is more accessible than outer-space. To fund asteroid mining ventures will be different from how state run missions are funded as there are a number of private companies pushing to undertake this opportunity commercially. The are 3 such ventures that have been making news in the last year – Planetary Resources was the first to come out in April 2012 and has some very wealthy backers and plans to start the process by launching telescope scouts to find and categorise near Earth passing asteroids. The second is Deep Space Industries announced this year with many ex-NASA experts on board with plans to send robotic scouts to explore asteroids within the next 5 years. The last on is Stott Space which is aiming to engage the wider public and inspire more of an interest in space. Stott Space is trying to raise funds by the recent method of crowd funding using sites such as indiegogo and kickstarter where companies pitch their ideas and the public donate amounts towards the financial goal. The new Mars Initiative has started a prize fund for the first company to land a human on Mars using crowd funding. These seem to be some very interesting times and I fully support the idea of asteroid mining and even deep sea mining if it can be done without impacting ecosystems. We will still need to find additional resources if we are to continue to develop our technology and have plenty for future generations and in space these resources are infinite. Please visit www.fieldsofperception.co.uk, for Space News

Introducing a new space news portal for discussions and latest developments in technological innovation.

A new space, science and technology news portal has been released that encourages the expression of ideas and opinions about new and emerging technologies. Follow the discoveries that will see changes to our lives in the next few years. Fields Of Perception is a new digital news portal for the Space, Science and Technology industries. We keep you up to date with all the ground-breaking discoveries and advances in Space exploration, Nano-technology, Medical advances and Electronics innovation. Although we have a focus on Space sciences, Astronomy, Space development and other over-worldly themes, we cover more down to earth issues such as environment, renewable energy and medicine. We hand pick stories from relevant sources that we feel would best interest our readers and use as reference for their respective areas of interest. We are different from the average news portal as we are to encourage both regular people who have an interest in space, science or technology to talk about their ideas with those that have more professional industrial experience. We hope that the stories we publish will inspire people to think about the universe and dare to dream of bigger things. We have chosen to have our site manually produced and human edited to give a personal touch and quality with every page. This individual production also gives flexibility of content and a personal service not often found on the internet these days. We are not just a news portal, we are striving to build a community where people of like-minded interest can discuss opinions and ideas on topics that may seem far-fetched to the average person on the street. To this end we have a forum where users can start topics for discussion and add their own thoughts to existing topics. We already have the interest of groups of people with varied experience and expertise in the subjects featured on Fields Of Perception based in many different countries. Given the varied interests of these people you can be assured that the forums will make for some interesting reading and you may find yourself expanding your knowledge. The aim of Fields Of Perception is to create an information resource for those interested in following the subjects that we feature and you can supply the info. Submit your own news about your products or discoveries and see them published and discussed by our visitors. We have two kinds of submissions, the standard inclusion and the top story. Top stories are the premium selection for those who would like their stories noticed before others, standard are the usual selection but both methods give good results for readability and SEO friendliness. If you are a news agent you can select multiple submissions if you have more than one article to submit, you will find that you save money in the long run if you use our service in this way. Have your own ideas for what is possible or what you would like to see happen? Showcase your idea with us and see it published. The Showcase area is a user submitted content place where anyone can write in detail about an idea or something they are passionate about. Although we understand the need to tell people your ideas we also understand and respect your rites as an author and ask readers to consult you in all things related to your idea. Space, Colonisation, Exploration, Commercial Space, Planetary Science, Asteroid Mining, Graphene, Nanotechnology, Solar, Renewable Energy, Electronics, Computing, New Space Bio: Please visit www.fieldsofperception.co.uk, for Space News