Protect the solar system from a mining ‘gold rush’ by creating a ‘space wilderness’ that preserves 88% of planets, moons and other heavenly bodies, scientists urge
Sure, because a pristine dead rock is more important than the living world it could be used to produce.
‘Once you’ve exploited the solar system, there’s nowhere left to go,’ he added.
Really. REALLY. Because a civilization that utterly uses up an entire solar system, converting every last gram of matter into a freakin’ Dyson swarm, is incapable of wandering off to, say, Alpha Centauri, I suppose?
‘And what about the rings of Saturn? They are beautiful, almost pure water ice.
‘Is it OK to mine those so that in 100 years they are gone?’
Umm… YES. The rings mass ~ 1.5X10^19 kilograms, and if that was all water, it’d be fifteen million cubic kilometers. That would be a square ocean one kilometer deep by 3872 kilometers on a side. Why, that would be just DANDY on the surface of Mars. I’d gladly trade Saturns rings, which I cannot see with the naked eye, for turning Mars from red to blue-green. Not only is that a win in the aesthetics category, it’s a win in the practicality category: the rings are doing nothing. Move that water to Mars, you bring the planet to *life.*