Degrees in Asteroid Mining (yes, really!)

That's as cool as it comes. We're ALL gonna be thanking those guys, someday.

 

I don't understand how one can do a PhD in it. Space Resources might be a fine subject, but it doesn't seem to be a scholarly one. I wonder what theories could be developed, tested, and or modified?

But it's good to see our instincts to pillage a planet isn't limited to just this one.

 

Plenty of research = plenty of opportunity for scholarship. And this is a research institution. I'm sure they're likely making advances with - and in - spectroscopic analysis, for one (of many, many) relevant things.

Plenty of clues as to the types of research being done on the page cited below. I see no shortage of doctoral possibilities here. And neither did the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. But what the hell do I know? Not much, admittedly. What the hell do THEY know? Plenty.

http://spaceresources.mines.edu/news.htm

 

An if we didn't know how to "pillage the planet" none of us would be posting in this forum. Or earning degrees -- or much else. No computers. No internet. We could go back to pencil and paper I guess. (They're from natural resources too.) And horses --- no cars. There are ways to do the "pillaging" better - safer and less wastefully. Let's hope the research of this school helps us do that, too. It just might. Maybe some Ph.Ds might earn doctorates from research into safer, cleaner extraction and cleaner, more efficient use of resources. Yeah, that's a nice prospect.

 

Farnsworth: Yes, there's no safer occupation than mining. Especially when you are perched on a snow ball whipping through space at a million miles an hour...safe.

 

Not necessarily. You fail to understand the distinction between scholarship and research. Research can be to foster scholarship, but it can also be used to advance praxis. That's what professional doctorates are for.

The PhD is a scholarly degree and should be the result of a significant, original contribution to scholarship. This means either contributing to theory or testing it. Simply conducting "research" does not assure this. Scholars understand this distinction, although it is often lost on those who have not done it.

Unless the field of space mining is an extension of some other scholarly discipline, it is an applied field and, thus, should not result in a PhD. The literature on these distinctions is wide and readily available.

 

They wouldn't be the first.

This distinction is not mine. But it is one I agree with.

 

The literature on PhD. possibilities in terrestrial mining is wide and readily available, too. Any reason why space mining should be treated differently, I don't see. A simple Google search turned up many PhD. programs in mining. Quite a few in my own country, Canada. US, India, others. Your distinction doesn't seem too popular.

Here are a few sites - out of hundreds.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Possible_research_proposals_areas_for_PhD_in_Mining_Engineering
https://www.grad.ubc.ca/prospective-students/graduate-degree-programs/phd-mining-engineering
https://miners-phd.org/
https://laurentian.ca/program/mineral-deposits-and-precambrian-geology-phd
https://www.phdportal.com/studies/233671/mining-engineering.html

Like it or not - agree or not - this is the new frontier - for miners and PhDs who advance their work. "Extension of some other scholarly discipline?" Mining engineering seems to be sufficient. Economic Geology and Geophysics get frequent mention too. All aspects of the mining biz.

 

Hmmm - sounds a bit personal to me. Rude, even. Would never have thought to hear such from you.
Mildly entertaining -- nothing more.

 

Personal? No, that's your territory.

 

As I said, IF it is an extension of another science.

I wonder what the foundational theory for mining is? I suspect it is formed from theories within the fields you mention (and others).

 

Deleted.

 

I could imagine that there are a lot of legal aspects that are completely different and that the Bergrecht does not necessarily apply! But that's just an uneducated guess!