Getting REALLY Rich - 3554 Amun - SavingAdvice.com Blog

Getting REALLY Rich - 3554 Amun

February 27, 2006

I was reading an article over at Money.com called Profits Set To Soar In Outer Space and couldn’t resist passing along this paragraph:

The long-term possibilities are even more celestial. Ever heard of 3554 Amun? It’s a space rock about 2 kilometers in diameter that looks as if it might have fallen straight out of The Little Prince. There are three key things to know about 3554 Amun: First, its orbit crosses that of Earth; second, it’s the smallest M-class (metal-bearing) asteroid yet discovered; and finally, it contains (at today’s prices) roughly $8 trillion worth of iron and nickel, $6 trillion of cobalt, and $6 trillion of platinum like metals. In other words, whoever owns Amun could become 450 times as wealthy as Bill Gates. And if you time your journey right — 2020 looks promising — it’s easier to reach than the Moon.

With a reward that high, I just bet that somebody will try…and if you think you might be the one, here’s a good place to start

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Information: February 27th, 2006; 3 Responses

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Reader Comments

Comment Number:: 1
Written by:: Nick
Posted on:: February 27, 2006 at 10:47 am

Oh man, I am so aiming my photon torpedoes at this baby. Now I just have to find a 2-kilometer parking space for it.

As for what I’d do with the $20 trillion? Obviously, I’d put it all on black!

Comment Number:: 2
Written by:: john
Posted on:: March 2, 2006 at 9:43 am

there is big problem with that ….

what is it’s orbit? it sure as hell isnt at a standstill waiting for us…how much would you be able to mine before it’s orbit took it out of reach and at 30 billion tonnes there is no way your going to be able to alter it’s course to make it do what you want it do….

Comment Number:: 3
Written by:: Michael
Posted on:: May 27, 2006 at 4:52 pm

in response to Nick’s comment about finding a “2 kilometer parking place for it”, bringing 3554 Amun back to Earth would be impracticle and rather dangerous. The amount of material comprising Amun also represents the approximate amount of metal mined on Earth over the last 3000 years! Allowing 3554 Amun to crash (and there is NO other way to say it) into Earth is EXACTLY the kind of thing scientists are trying to prevent, NOT encourage.

John, while I agree with your posting, I think you might want to concider the possible advantages to using an autonomous mining system. It could operate 24/7/52 a year and build whatever you want in orbit around 3554 Amun. Of course, you’d have to wait until a while to get what was produced, but what’s a little time when you get more back than what you put out? The reason I suggest an autonomous miner is that operating such a unit in “real time” would have the drawback of a “lag time” between giving the unit a command and it receiving it, a time that would range from about 6 to 30 minutes (double that if you wanted a response.)