There are individual asteroids that have tens of trillions of dollars in materials

Doesn't mean you could sell for that much if you mined it.

if you put $5 trillion of solar panels into space, you get your $5 trillion back by the end of year two and a $5 trillion income stream each year thereafter.

If it's just so simple, why hasn't anyone done it?

You assume it would work, without flaw, the first go.

It's too big a task for any one nation.

The benefits - If successful - Would be great. But the upfront requirements are a bit much.

The International Space Station cost $150 billion.

But to encircle the entire planet with a ring is only $500 billion? That doesn't sound right.

Compete science fiction, much like the ISS.

Except the ISS can be seen with the naked eye.

EVERY TIME. Every time people say that. Gee whiz, if it could be seen with the naked eye you would think any amateur astronomer could take a decent picture of it with a zoom lens or a telescope.

Either way, I'm not saying there's nothing up there, just that the idea of people in there wearing gorilla suits and playing flutes and squirting water everywhere is fiction. The videos are being staged elsewhere, not in earth orbit. Human space travel presents many more dangers than the average person is aware of, several of which are insurmountable at the moment.

I like the idea of the orbital ring but it's much more advanced than a space station and we can't even do that. For example, what about these asteroids zooming around, would they not pose a threat?

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A picture of something orbiting does not "prove" the trashtronuts are really up there doing experiments and bouncing around playing guitar, etc. If you are convinced by those photos, very well, however they're not even consistent with each other.

The idea that there are people aboard the space station is fictional, which is what I said, even if there may be something orbiting there as a placeholder. You can literally see wires protruding from their shirts, bubbles coming out of helmets, women's hair sticking straight up with hairspray instead of floating in zero-gravity, there's so many signs of fakery and the entire production is frankly so goofy that it's an insult to watch.

As for the obstacles of space travel, I could name five or six and you wouldn't care because I'm not a NASA official. I can't give you a physics lesson over the internet and make you see exactly how complex and forbidding atmospheric re-entry is. If you think the International Shit Show is on the up-and-up you won't care about the problems with human waste, microorganisms, oxygen, dust, and many other details that are not adequately addressed or explained by NASA. And the concept of shrugging off the possibility of a meteoroid or asteroid strike just because it's unlikely, even though it could instantly destroy a multi-billion dollar project and end all lives aboard, is as ridiculous as letting a mother of two young children be a passenger.

If you are convinced by those photos,

You're the one that asked for photos. I've already seen the ISS with my naked eye.

however they're not even consistent with each other.

This claim needs elaboration.

You can literally see wires protruding from their shirts, bubbles coming out of helmets, women's hair sticking straight up with hairspray instead of floating in zero-gravity

None of these are true. And i've seen the videos, and photos claiming it.

As for the obstacles of space travel, I could name five or six and you wouldn't care because I'm not a NASA official.

None of us are NASA officials, yet I still like reading these posts.

problems with human waste, microorganisms, oxygen, dust, and many other details that are not adequately addressed or explained by NASA

Well start with the human waste and we'll see if it goes over my head.

And the concept of shrugging off the possibility of a meteoroid or asteroid strike just because it's unlikely, even though it could instantly destroy a multi-billion dollar project and end all lives aboard, is as ridiculous as letting a mother of two young children be a passenger.

It's possible you will get hit by a car the moment you step outside - Yet you still do.

Why is that?

I don't engage in conversation with Redditors who still think the "quote every line of your comment and interpolate it with snarky commentary" is anything but annoying.

If you trust NASA implicitly, fine. You probably think we went to the moon in 1969 with a 32 kB computer and a lunar lander made of gold foil and cardboard. For those of us who don't trust NASA, it's easy to call out the bullshit with ISIS. As long as people are so easily convinced by cheap sleight of hand and establishment gatekeepers of science who argue from authority, the hoaxing will continue.

If you can make assertions like "none of these are true," when they clearly are, you're not making real arguments. Yes their shirts protrude, yes the women's hair sticks straight up stiffly, yes you see bubbles, you can't dispute these things - you can only make feeble and inadequate explanations for why they are.

The stepping outside and being hit by a car thing is stupid. You don't spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money to do this, for no real reason, not to mention the probability of disaster in space is much higher than walking outside.

Quoting each line helps to structure my response, so you can clearly see exactly what point i'm responding to.

There wasn't any cardboard on the moon landers, and the computer capabilities were assisted with humans doing the calculations back on Earth. It's ISS, not ISIS.

It's called risk assessment. The risk of a catastrophic strike by an asteroid is low enough to allow the construction of the ISS.

You should have said you believe we landed on the moon from the start. Of course you aren't going to have any doubts or any critical thoughts about ISS. Oh boy.

You mean, I should've said I believe in evidence, from the start.

Yeah, like fake moon rocks that are just petrified wood.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/6105902/Moon-rock-given-to-Holland-by-Neil-Armstrong-and-Buzz-Aldrin-is-fake.html

Well shit, since you keep editing your comments after I reply to them, I'd be happy to address the issue of human waste in space. NASA seems not to have quite nailed it down yet, even though they already have it under control up in the ISS...

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/space-poop-challenge

And of course this is all kind of moot because according to you, they already solved this problem before 1969 since the Apollo missions were huge successes and the asstronots had to pee, poo, sneeze, and spit then too.

Kind of reminds me how NASA repeatedly has admitted we still can't get past the Van Allen radiation belts because they don't have the radiation shielding technology.

Well shit, since you keep editing your comments after I reply to them

Which ones? Where?

NASA seems not to have quite nailed it down yet, even though they already have it under control up in the ISS...

That challenge is for long-term waste within the suits. Not waste onboard the ISS.

Clearly you're illiterate.

So you think they just shit in diapers on space walks?

How long is a space walk?

How long can you hold it in?

Well you certainly hope you can hold it in long enough to go back inside, take off your huge spacesuit, and use the complicated array of garden hoses, funnels, and assorted dials that NASA wants us to think is the super-duper high tech space-shitting technology. Ideally one can hold it that long..

But for example, what if you are an astronaut on the moon, 237,000 miles away from home, with no chance of rescue, and you have a horrific fall, and knowing that your life could quickly end with one slight tear in your suit, leaving you to die painfully in the dead of space, or even a sprained ankle could mean the end of the mission, and you're totally not just dicking around in the safe confines of a film studio, I mean surely that guy shit his pants a little bit. So what do you do then?

What if someone gets a painful and itchy yeast infection? These are the things there should be answers for, like how much water was taken on the Apollo missions..

You didn't give a number, so that tells me you just don't know.

Or, you think humans have to shit every hour on the hour.

what if you are an astronaut on the moon, 237,000 miles away from home, with no chance of rescue, and you have a horrific fall

Horrific fall

HORRIFIC FALL - aka. A stumble in a pressurised suit.

and knowing that your life could quickly end with one slight tear in your suit

False. The suits have layers.

Just go back to Pinterest and look at more pretty ISS pix.

Sure. Meanwhile you'll keep ignoring requests for proof leading others to believe you're illiterate.

Well you certainly hope you can hold it in long enough to go back inside, seal the airlock, pressurize the airlock, take off your huge spacesuit, open the airlock, float down the corridors of the station, and use the complicated array of garden hoses, funnels, and assorted dials that NASA wants us to think is the super-duper high tech space-shitting technology. Ideally one can hold it that long..

Do you have some kind of bowel issue? How often are you shitting?

But for example, what if you are an astronaut on the moon, 237,000 miles away from home, with no chance of rescue, and you have a horrific fall, and knowing that your life could quickly end with one slight tear in your suit, leaving you to die painfully in the dead of space, or even a sprained ankle could mean the end of the mission, and you're totally not just dicking around in the safe confines of a film studio, I mean surely that guy shit his pants a little bit. So what do you do then?

Quickly, better tell anyone whose ever done anything remotely risky that they're wrong.

I wonder if Neil Armstrong knew his life was in danger during his decade as a military test pilot?

What if someone gets a painful and itchy yeast infection?

I dunno, maybe they just use the same stuff they use on Earth?

For example, what about these asteroids zooming around, would they not pose a threat?

They would, which is why the ISS is fortified on the high risky regions. Also the main problem its not asteroids but rather debris from other space-related endeavours.

Yeah, basically if it were real it would be on a razor's edge of catastrophic disaster at all times, however nothing ever goes wrong that can't be fixed by a simple space walk. It's a fantasy.

Yeah you know, as a matter of fact, last Christmas Eve I looked up in the sky and saw a flashing red light, and therefore can conclude that Santa lives on the North Pole and has elves that make toys so he can deliver them in a flying sleigh pulled by magic reindeer.

Space elevators would have to be too big to be faked though... Maybe with holograms?