For investors looking for a stellar investment, Planetary Resources, w

Question

For investors looking for a stellar investment, Planetary Resources, with its goal of mining asteroids, may just be the launch pad. Although company officials admit that the real payoff is probably decades away, Planetary Resources is planning, eventually, to bring precious metals and minerals from space to Earth. It also aims to tap the water resources of asteroids in order to supply others in space such as NASA, other explorers, and, conceivably, other commercial ventures. (To gauge the value of becoming space’s water tap, think space prices not Earth prices: The current cost of sending a liter of water to the International Space Station is about $20,000.)

“Sky’s the limit” is not too farfetched an idiom to describe possible profits from the venture. Eric Anderson, Planetary Resource’s co-founder, recently estimated the worth of each asteroid at $12 trillion. A company promotional video states that a single asteroid could supply more platinum than all of the platinum that has already been mined on Earth. Right now, there are 9000 known near Earth asteroids deemed large enough to mine. More important, NASA has recently brought the idea’s plausibility down to Earth by releasing plans for how the mining of near-Earth asteroids might be ccomplished.

Should Planetary Resources succeed in its attempts to robotically extract platinum group metals and more, a monopoly on space mining will exist until the competition catches up—if it ever does. If the barrier to future entry in the space-mining market remains the technological hegemony of Planetary Resources (not to mention its funding, which comes in part from the deep pockets of two billionaires from the darling of all alleged monopolies, Google), public ire might not be aroused. At some point, investors believe, Planetary Resources could establish a formidable economy of scale and fulfill its projected goal of adding billions of dollars annually to the nation’s GDP.    1 
 1. The author implies that public response to a monopoly on space mining

(A) would be about the same as the response to the accusations that Google is a monopoly.
(B) could be particularly angry if the competition suffered a barrier to entry based on economy of scale.
(C) might be accepting if Planetary Resources’ technological supremacy limited other market entry.
(D) might be so intense as to make Planetary Resources a target for antitrust legislation.
(E) would be focused on the issues of relevant markets and structural competitiveness.

2 
 2. The fact in the passage that gives the greatest credence to the feasibility of the project is the

(A) participation of investors from Google.
(B) potential benefits to future space exploration.
(C) existence of NASA plans for asteroid mining.
(D) likely development of an economy of scale.
(E) technological preeminence of Planetary Resources.

3 
 3. The author’s attitude toward the venture can best be described as

(A) objective and reportorial.
(B) guardedly optimistic.
(C) amused and slightly sarcastic.
(D) pointedly and bitterly negative.
(E) vacillating from paragraph to paragraph.

4 
 4. The passage mentions all of the following as possible venture outcomes EXCEPT:

(A) the eventual supply of water from space to space exploration teams.
(B) the use of robots to extract precious metals, particularly platinum group metals.
(C) enormous potential profits and a profoundly positive effect on the nation’s GDP.
(D) the collaboration of NASA with Planetary Resources in a public/private venture.
(E) the likely inability of other private space-mining ventures to catch up and compete

RC Butler 2023  -  Practice Two RC Passages Everyday.   
Passage # 113 Date: 20-Apr-2023
 This question is a part of RC Butler 2023 .  Click here for Details

ritikmishra2901 · Answer

Hi. I did not understand Question 3 and its answer. Please help.

Karan0912 · Answer

3. The author’s attitude toward the venture can best be described as

(A) objective and reportorial.  Close second. The tone of the passage is on the optimistic side. If it were objective, it would have had information on downsides/risks to it. It would share information on what do people opposing the initiative feel about the venture etc. 
(B) guardedly optimistic.  Author throughout the passage is optimistic about the prospects of the venture. He also mentions that Sky is the limit in terms of possibilities and such venture could add billions to GDP. All these thing convey an optimistic tone. 
(C) amused and slightly sarcastic.  Nowhere is the author sarcastic 
(D) pointedly and bitterly negative.  It is the opposite 
(E) vacillating from paragraph to paragraph.  Author doesnt vacillate or shift support from para to para. Author is optimistic throughout the passage

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. The author’s attitude toward the venture can best be described as

Explanation

The tone and connotations must be considered carefully to arrive at this choice, and readers must distinguish between puns related to stars, a launch pad, the sky being  “the limit,”  the plan being  “down to Earth,”  and sarcasm, which has a more critical bite. The author’s attitude may also be gauged, in general, by a general lack of criticism, as well as by the first sentence, which guardedly anoints the investment.

Choice (A)  is incorrect because the author does actually suggest in the first sentence that the venture might be a good investment.

Choice (C)  is tempting; the punning does suggest amusement. Nevertheless, there is no sarcasm present. Furthermore, there are a large number of facts and no amusement whatsoever in the reporting of possible economic implications.

Choice (D)  is incorrect because the author actually puts a more positive spin on the endeavor than the level of scientific fact in the passage might warrant.

Choice (E)  should be eliminated because, while the puns cease after the second paragraph, the view throughout is fairly consistent: If this unlikely and farfetched plan does succeed, there are billions, if not trillions, of dollars to be made.

The correct answer is (B).

pratiksha1998 · Answer

Could you comment on the difficulty level of each question?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Although difficulty is given in the timers here how i rate them:

1. 655
2. 505
3. 555
4. 605

For investors looking for a stellar investment, Planetary Resources, w

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For investors looking for a stellar investment, Planetary Resources, w

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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