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It may sound like sci-fi. But millions and millions of dollars are pouring into projects to mine asteroids and the moon. And with a space gold rush comes space pirates.

With trillions of dollars worth of minerals lying just under the moon’s surface or spinning around the solar system inside asteroids, space mining is big business.

Well, big potential business. No one has dug nickel out of an asteroid or scooped any tantalum from the lunar dust—at least not for profit. Before space miners can get drilling, they need to invent specialized industrial robots, set up orbital outposts and—arguably most importantly—convince investors, workers, and prospective buyers that space minerals are worth the cost and effort of mining them.

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The US Air Force’s 846th Test Squadron is on a bit of a roll when it comes to breaking world speed records. A couple of years ago, the unit set the speed record for magnetic levitation at 510 mph. Then earlier this year on March 2nd, the squad broke the record again at Holloman’s Air Force Base in New Mexico, sending a 2,000 pound, magnetically levitated, rocket-powered sled down a nearly frictionless track at 513 mph. But that record only stood for two days, when the 846th set a new one at an incredible 633 mph.

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Bots are only as good as their under pinning legacy infrastructure/ networks. Glad to see this article and someone speaking again for investors outside SV.


Bots hit the mark on every pattern Silicon Valley loves. But for investors and entrepreneurs — and executives outside of San Francisco trying to figure out what this bot business is all about — it’s worth taking a step back and looking at this frenzy with fresh eyes and a bigger picture.

Simple interactions between people — making a connection, following and messaging — when captured in a digital network of people who know each other already personally, professionally or by reputation, have created a handful of extremely valuable networks where three billion people today spend the majority of their time.

Facebook pages are like the once-vibrant amusement park that got knocked down for condos.

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