From: jmccaule1@attbi.com   
      
   "Mike Miller"  wrote in message   
   news:5dcb47db.0404271220.2edbd6ec@posting.google.com...   
   > You've got mines and smelters producing tens of   
   > megatons of refined metal annually, enough to meet a noticeable   
   > fraction of Earth's demand for metals.   
      
   Wouldn't it make more sense economically to use the material where it is --   
   in space?  After all, if you have a substantial enough infrastructure in   
   space to capture an asteroid, would that not imply that rather than giving   
   up all that kinetic energy (in fact, dumping a whole lot more into it to   
   drop it down the Earth's gravity well), it would be better to retain it and   
   use it a lot closer (in energy terms) to where it is to expand that   
   infrastructure and add to its capability?\   
      
   Jim McCauley   
   Mountain View CA   
      
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