>>12593534That's not why you mine asteroids. You mine them because that means you no longer need to launch stuff to get manufactured materials in orbit or at other worlds. The escape velocity of an asteroid is close to zero, you could get away from them by jumping really high. If you mine the asteroid and use it to make aluminum foil satellite mirrors, those can now be used to collect power and other uses in space without having to launch more than the initial mining/smelting craft. This has profound economical implications, and allows for things like inexpensive manufacture of large rotating (artificial gravity) habitats, power satellites for beamed power back to Earth surface, self-sufficient off-world bases for science and creation of new societies for humanity.
