The cast of “Alien,” in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi blockbuster, may actually be more akin to future space-farers than our citizen heroes from NASA’s Apollo era. After all, the film presents a view of space travel that is based as much on economics as wanderlust and this is arguably as it should be.
How can anyone forget the hangdog eyes of Harry Dean Stanton, who so clearly is out that far in space solely for the cash? The crew of the Nostromo, the film’s ore-carrying cargo vessel under threat from a ravenous extraterrestrial, inherently understands that sometimes great profit only comes with great risk.
We all hope that there are more glory moments in our future, with a manned trip to Mars and scientific colonies on the moon. But the recent announcement by Bellevue, Wa.-based Planetary Resources, Inc. that it plans to mine Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) could also be a step in the right direction. As the startup company, backed in part by Google billionaires Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, notes, a solitary 500-meter asteroid could potentially reap the equivalent of all the Platinum Group Metals ever mined here on earth.
To read more, click here.