Mining of Minerals on Asteroids
The thought of substituting land with asteroid mining is a natural one, and it’s something that’s been alluring our minds for quite a while now. In the year 1898, science fiction started talking about asteroid mining, and over the last 50 years or so, there have been many tentative compositions about how to turn this futuristic idea into reality.
While the concept has been a series of science fiction for decades and in the past few decades it’s come to be viewed as a serious possibility. This had led to the establishment of asteroid mining firms and the passage of legislation that recognizes the right of companies to prospect, claim, and extract space-based resources. With multiple companies now emerging for the express purpose of asteroid mining and prospection, it is clear that the idea is moving from the domain of science fiction into the world of science fact. But what are the odds that anyone will establish a viable asteroid-mining business? When might all be transformed into a regular part of our economy? And most essential of all, is not “can we” or “should we,” but “when shall we?”
In addition to prostrating the necessary steps needed to be taken, NASA’s RAP report also gave some interesting conclusions regarding the feasibility of certain types of mining. Until LEO and deep-space are commercialized, it isn’t fair to look off-world for essential resources that can be more cheaply harvested at home. However, the report also lays down that in the long-run, harvesting minerals and ices from asteroids will make good economic sense. not only would the building of space infrastructure benefit from the mining of elements such as platinum, aluminium, iron, nickel, and manganese, it would also be cheaper for habitats and facilities in space to get their water from local asteroids rather than Earth.
For as long as human beings have conducted trade and businesses, scarcity has seen to be a vital element. By having an abundant source of resources, humanity could effectively become a post-scarcity species. Simultaneously, if supply should suddenly exceed demand, then the value of these resources will drop considerably, and all the wealth that is measured using them will also abide. However, between growing demand, the danger posed by climate change, and the possible need to look off-world for human survival, asteroid mining may be inescapable.
Supporting the Legislation
US President, Barack Obama, in the year 2015 signed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act into law. The law stated that the purpose of this Act was to facilitate a pro-growth environment for the developing commercial space industry by encouraging private sector investment and creating more stable and predictable regulatory conditions.
The Act created a model whereby US companies and private citizens were subsequently allowed to own and sell resources that they extracted from asteroids and other astronomical bodies such as the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
On May 24th, 2018, the Trump administration signed Space Directive-2, an executive order that sought to simplify the regulatory framework for promoting economic growth by minimizing uncertainty for taxpayers, investors, and private industry.
This was followed by another executive order known as “Executive Order on Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources,” which was passed on April 6th, 2020.
What are Asteroids?
Around 4.6 billion years ago, our Sun formed from a nebula of gas and dust that experienced gravitational collapse at the center.
As per the one common model, after the full utilization of most of the material from the solar nebula, the rest of the gas and dust are formed into a large, flat disk around the Sun’s equator which is also known as a circumsolar accretion disk. Over the next few eons, this disk slowly condensed in place to form the planets. As per our current astronomical models, asteroids, are the remains of the formation of the Solar System.
On Earth, nearly three and a half billion years ago, gravity pulls most of the heavier elements such as iron and nickel into the core during the Achean Eon. This process left the crust degraded of its heavy metals and heavier elements.
One model assumes that during the Heavy Bombardment Period, around 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago, a disproportionately high amount of asteroids collided with the terrestrial planets. These influences would have then permeated the degraded crust with metals such as iron, nickel, gold, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium, and tungsten.
Asteroid mining
Within the Solar System, various bodies could comprise an abundance of minerals, ores, and volatile elements that are highly essential for the economy of our Earth.
Asteroids, as we learned above, are believed to be the material leftover from the formation of the Solar System. All told, there are thought to be more than 150 million asteroids in the inner Solar System alone, and that’s only the ones that measure 100 meters (330 ft) or more in diameter. These can be further categorized into three main groups: C-type, S-type, and M-type, which correspond to asteroids which largely comprise of clay and silicates, silicates and nickel-iron, and metals. About 75% fall into the category of C-type; S-types account for 17%; while M-type and other types make up the remainder.
These latter two groups are thought to contain plenty of minerals, including gold, platinum, cobalt, zinc, tin, lead, indium, silver, copper, iron, and various rare-Earth metals. These metals have been mined from the Earth’s crust and have been important to economic and technological progress.
In addition to that, there are thought to be many asteroids and comets that comprise water ice, which could be harvested to satisfy a growing demand for freshwater on Earth, for everything from drinking to irrigation and sanitation and other volatiles such as ammonia, methane, which could also be used as a source of chemical propellant such as hydrazine, thus, accelerating further exploration and mining ventures. Planetary Resources indicates that there are roughly 2.2 trillion US tons (2 trillion metric tons) of water ice in the Solar System.
Of course, this raises an evident question:
Why not simply continue to depend on Earth for sources of valuable metals and resources and simply learn to use them better?
And to put it simply, we are running out of resources. To be clear, learning to use our resources better and more sustainably is always the key concept behind the whole mining procedure. And while it is certainly true that Earth-based mining is far cheaper than going to space would be, which may not be the case indefinitely.
Apart from the considerable value of the off-world minerals and ices to Earth’s economy, our growing consumption is also directing our reserves to become slowly exhausted.
Some estimates state that our planet may run out of key elements that are needed for modern industry and food production within the next 60 to 70 years. This alone is a pretty good incentive to try and tap the seemingly inexhaustible supply of elements located off-world. There are various benefits to stretching humanity’s resource base beyond Earth. As here on Earth, mining takes a considerable toll on the natural environment. Relying on the used methods, it can result in erosion, sinkholes, habitat destruction, and the destruction of native animal and plant life.
And when combined with power generation, these industrial processes are known to be the leading contributors to air and water pollution. By shifting these burdens off-world, humanity could reduce the impact such mining has on the natural environment.
Methodology
Before the beginning of the mining of the asteroids, there is the necessity of “asteroid prospecting.” In short, asteroids will first need to be identified, then cataloged, and assessed for the value of their minerals and resources. NASA, in the year 2012, commissioned a project which was also known as Robotic Asteroid Prospector, also intended to assess the practicability of asteroid mining. Also, they recognized four different classes of asteroid mission that would be possible using conventional technology. These included prospecting, mining/retrieval, processing, and transportation. Prospecting, the logical first step, involves studying and identifying asteroids that could provide good economic returns.
Conclusion
Hence, by taking into consideration the past few centuries of human history, the pair recommends that limits be established now before exponential growth strips our solar system of its resources.
Since the Industrial Revolution began in earnest in the 18th century, natural resource exploitation and population have grown in tandem. In fact, between the years 1800 and 2000, the global population multiplied six times over, going from 1 billion to 6 billion.
Therefore, asteroid mining could work parallel in both human space exploration and off-world settlement. In a few more centuries to come, it would not be improbable for the human settlements and human industry will reach from the inner Solar System to the Kuiper Belt. Intrinsic to that will be a vast infrastructure dedicated to harvesting everything from metals and ices to hydrogen and helium-3 from rocks, moons, and planetary bodies.
