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| Mercury |
The Silicon Graybeard has a post up about the possibility of a ten mile thick layer of diamond beneath the planet Mercury's crust. Suppose there was such a thing, and also suppose we could send a rocket there that could also return to Earth. The way SpaceX is going I expect we could build such a rocket within twenty years or so, assuming we really wanted to. What form would this layer of diamond take? Would it be a ten mile thick layer of gravel made of diamond gemstones? Or would it be like one solid layer like the shell around an egg? What could you do with a mile long piece of diamond? Might be time to go back and Neil Stephenson's The Diamond Age.
3 comments:
I'm sure we have top men on the project. Top. Men.
But anyone with the kahunas, the money, the rocket, the fuel and the ability of a return trip could feasibly go there and mine a bunch of diamonds and bring them back and get rich off them until They bring back so many of them that the price finally goes way down. Someone would be a Quadrillionaire. Mucks?
Diamonds interlaced with Uranium? U C ?
The retrieval would become a national priority, all out effort funded with your taxes.
When successfully returned to Earth 1% of the diamonds would go to testing labs at universities which would report to congress the specs, grading, and any possible hazards.
The other 99% would somehow go into the possession of businesses to validate the free enterprise for profit system. Makes my heart swell with pride.
xoxoxoBruce
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