Is mining asteroids feasible?

Asteroids are a class of small rocky and metallic bodies orbiting the sun. However, asteroid mining is currently only viable as a long-term solution; currently, the infrastructure and techniques needed to mine and refine asteroid resources is under development, making short term returns unlikely for mining companies.

What would happen if we mined asteroids?

If we started mining asteroids, we wouldn’t have to carry so much fuel around. We’d be able to go further than we’ve ever imagined. We’d mine asteroids for water ice to get water – an essential element for sustaining human life anywhere in space.

Will we discover new elements in space?

More than three-quarters of the elements on the periodic table exist naturally on Earth or elsewhere in the Universe. The last naturally occurring element to be discovered was francium (87) in 1939. But it is unlikely we will discover any new naturally occurring super-heavy elements on Earth, says Williams.

How is asteroid mining possible?

Miners on asteroids would use techniques similar to those used on Earth. The most likely method would be to scrape desired material off the asteroid, and tunnel into veins of specific substances. Scraping, or strip mining, will pull out valuable ore that will float off the asteroid.

What is asteroid mining?

Asteroid mining is the hypothetical exploitation of materials from asteroids and other minor planets, including near-Earth objects. As of 2021, less than 1 gram of asteroid material has been successfully returned to earth from space.

Why is asteroid mining important?

Since Earth’s resources are finite, the relative abundance of asteroidal ore gives asteroid mining the potential to provide nearly unlimited resources, which would essentially eliminate scarcity for those materials. The idea of exhausting resources is not new.

Are new elements possible?

New elements aren’t exactly discovered anymore. However, they can be made, using particle accelerators and nuclear reactions. A new element is made by adding a proton (or more than one) or neutron to a pre-existing element.

Can we create new elements?

Scientists pursue these new superheavy elements to better understand the limits of matter. But nature is just as capable of making these “fundamental substances,” too. For example, researchers created plutonium (94 protons) in a lab in 1940 and ’41.

Can we make asteroid mining economical?

At present, only one company, Planetary Resources, is conducting research into the technologies and strategies necessary to make asteroid mining economical. Our current understanding of asteroid composition confirms they are a likely source of many critical elements, such as the platinum group elements.

Why is NASA sending a mission to an asteroid?

“However, the mission will develop important technologies for asteroid exploration that will benefit anyone interested in exploring or mining asteroids, whether it’s NASA or a private company,” said Lauretta.

Could asteroids be a vast new source of scarce material?

Asteroids could one day be a vast new source of scarce material if the financial and technological obstacles can be overcome. Asteroids are lumps of metals, rock and dust, sometimes laced with ices and tar, which are the cosmic “leftovers” from the solar system’s formation about 4.5 billion years ago.

Is it feasible to capture an asteroid?

The KISS study claims that it will be feasible to “identify, capture, and return” an asteroid seven meters in diameter and 500,000 kg in weight using technology that could be developed in the next decade (48).