I wonder with the lack of gravity and all, would the threat of the asteroid cave collapsing be much lower than on Earth.

@ Shubber: That is probably true. If asteroids dropped the prices of rare metals, I wonder whether or not the mining industries would be opposed to importing metals off world?

@ Brian (aka BW): I could envision robots being used on asteroids initially and (after it became “popular”) in the distant future, with humans merely transporting the materials.

I do think somewhere in the middle they may need people to temporarily live and work on these space rocks.

@ Space Guardian: Thanks for letting me know! I’ve updated the post.

Another thing, if asteroid minors attempt to mine asteroids already claimed by asteroid miners, conflict might arise–particularly if by law asteroid minors are deemed too young to stake mining claims.

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/asteroid-99i.html

Near earth mining would be the first hurdle to overcome
http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/the_technical_and_economic_feasibility_of_mining_the_near_earth_asteriods.shtml

although greater use of Mars and lunar resources makes sense as we continue to send robots there

Economics 101 lesson for you:

Supply and Demand

The reason certain rare items are so expensive (such as platinum group metals) is precisely because they are RARE.

Actually, the earth’s magnetic field plays a minor role in shielding us from radiation . It is the cumulative material of the atmosphere that does the trick. Galactic cosmic rays, in fact, are barely affected by the field because of their high energies. The field definitely does help protect astronauts in LEO from solar particle radiation.

Remember that the earth’s field periodically reverses and during the reversal goes to zero. Life on earth goes on as usual during such reversals.

Two or three meters of dense rock will block even most GCRs. So a miner standing on the surface of an asteroid will experience about 50% less GCR radiation exposure compared to open space. Protection from solar radiation depends on rotation, where the astronaut is standing, etc. but 50% is not a bad gross estimate for that as well.

To get earth level protection, our miner can live in a shelter that is in a gully or trench that is covered over with rock. Or in a cave or in a shaft dug for the mining.

About 5m of water are needed to get near earth surface level shielding. I like the idea of building a roof of a shelter using a water tank with transparent sections, like those at the big aquariums. This would provide excellent radiation protection while letting nice morale boosting sunlight to come through.

- Clark