As a way of introduction, I would like to remind us that the earth's mineral resources are constantly depleting, and this depletion is faster than it is actually replenishing. According to research; by 2060, Coal would be depleted by over 50% of the current reserve.
Other projected mineral's depletion (by 50%) dates include:
- Iron - 2068
- Aluminum - 2057
- Copper - 2040, etc
With these depletions in the earth's mineral resources, the earth could soon face a drought in mineral resources. But there is another alternative; Asteroid Mining.
We are all aware that there are thousands of asteroids and Near-Earth Objects (NEO) flying across the earth's orbit. As at November 2017, a study confirmed that there are over 17,000 NEOs. No doubt, some of these NEOs are potentially dangerous if they enter the earth's atmosphere, but we can turn our enemies into our allies. Extraction of minerals is one way to achieve this.
It has also been confirmed that some of these asteroids are richly endowed with valuable earth's minerals like: Palladium, Rhenium, Rhodium, Platinum, Iridium, Osmium, Gold, Silver, Tungsten, Molybdenum, Titanium, Nickel, Aluminum, Cobalt and Iron.
Points to consider for asteroid mining
The first point to consider is the initial cost of establishing a mine in the space, and other space constructions.
Currently; it costs about $10,000 to send a pound of material to the space. And we are looking at sending tonnes of materials. Going by this calculation, it would cost a whopping $2billion just to send 100tonnes of construction materials to the space.
But there's another alternative: The solution to a cheaper space construction is already there in the space. The most feasible and practical way of constructing stuffs in space is to construct it with other stuffs in the space. The best proposition here is this: Take a minimal mining tool to the asteroid, mine a few materials there. Then use the materials to construct a bigger mine; and progress in that order. We could be looking at even constructing a full space colony.
Most interestingly, because the asteroids are not as dense as the earth, some of these minerals are not embedded deep into the core. That means, little effort would yield huge result.
I know some would ask; how would you send these minerals back to the earth? First of all, I would like state that the primary aim is to establish an Extraterrestrial colony with these minerals (something like our second home). But we won't also rule out the fact that we can send in some of these materials to the earth.
And here's the easiest way: Asteroids, unlike the Earth, have lower escape velocity and gravity (that is why you could hop from asteroid to asteroid). Once the mineral is mined; with minimal velocity, you can break through the asteroid's gravity, and glide it through to the earth in a giant glider. Also, you can mine the rockets fuel from the asteroid too.
Identifying and landing on asteroids
This is one of the major concerns.
How do you land on an asteroid?
As you may have known, asteroids look solid, but some of them have very low mass and low gravity; a bad landing would spell "doom". Here's the best bet: Have you ever heard of "giant space net"?
In a minute gravity, this net will allow you to wrap an asteroid (snaring an asteroid) to land on it, or even dragging it to a big one.
Potential asteroids for mining
The list below shows the potential asteroids that are strongly considered for mining.
This is truly the future we have been waiting for, and the future is already here.
Thanks for reading
References for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4
