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According to the KISS study, the cost for a future mission to identify and return a 500 ton asteroid to low earth orbit is ~$2.6 billion USD, ignoring the costs to develop the infrastructure necessary to process the materials in the asteroid ("Asteroid usage", 2012).
yep any thing is feasable if you leave out all the costs
the true advantage would be to, not bring it back to earth but to use the metals to expand our reach into space. develop the infrastructure in space and use it there, "leapfrogging " our way to the reaches of our solar system. which is about as far as we can feasably go (at least for the next few hundred years)
personally I would like to see more research into the Higgs Boson particle, that which gives mass to everything in theory.If that mystery can be cracked, cheap space travel, artificial gravity, and shielding to withstand interstellar speeds can be achieved.
then this arguement would be moot
This is also a very interesting concept, there use to be a push to setup a refueling base on Mars, but it would initially require a one way trip which I think people shy away from. A few true pioneers were willing last I heard anyone speak on it, but I don't think its getting any funding.