If you are living in the Bay Area, you might want to attend this talk by Dr. John Lewis, the long time proponent of asteroid mining:

Title:        “To The Asteroids – and beyond!”
Speaker:   John Lewis (UAz)
When:      Tuesday, 10 September 7pm PDT, 2013
Where:     Colloquium Room, SETI Headquarters, 189 Bernardo Ave, Mountain View
Poster:      http://www.seti.org/sites/default/files/csc-Sep-13.pdf
Live link:  https://plus.google.com/events/cfij418phv10tocljpb2dp56630
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Abstract:

Tsiolkovsii and Goddard dreamed of the day when we would have access to the resources
of the asteroids.  Today, with an enormous and rapidly growing body of data on meteorites,
the Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and their more distant counterparts, we can envision the
propulsion systems, transportation system architectures, ores, processing schemes and
markets for products made from materials sourced in nearby space.  Most of these products
are of greatest value and significance in space; some, such as platinum-group metals and
energy, would be worth returning to Earth.

The resources of the NEAs also provide the propellants and structural materials for a broad
expansion of human presence in space.

Dr. John Lewis is the author of the 1997 book “Mining the Sky” and is an Emeritis Professor
of Planetary Science at University of Arizona. This talk will survey the what, where, how and
why of space resource utilization– and raise the timely question of when.