Asteroid mining… whats next, space pirates?
Asteroids are small chunks of rock that failed to become a planet mainly because of Jupiter immense gravity. So what you may ask. Asteroids are very small. They hold a large variety of resources like water, carbon (organic) material, stones (for example silicon and magnesium), and metals (for example gold and platinum).
Earth also has these resources but it is big. In earth many of the heavier elements like metals are sink to the core because of gravity, in asteroids this is not the case. They have all the resources spread out relatively equally on the surface. That means asteroids provide easy access to material in space.
Another problem with mining stuff in earth is that Space travel is very expensive. Every kg of stuff transported is $20 000 (check out Prison of earth #1 for more). Each asteroid can help by allowing us to build stuff in space and not on earth and launch it into space.
1. the carbon asteroids can act like fueling stations meaning that we would not need to carry as much fuel.
2. The water asteroids can provide water to colonization on other planets.
3. The metal and stone asteroids can help us build large structures (cough, *space elevators*, cough cough) in space without having to transport hundreds of tonnes worth of metal.
Well what is the benefit… sure it comes with lots of bragging rights, but why else would we mine floating space rock? For 3 main reasons… money, money and to find where Luke Skywalker is hidden…wait they already did that well I guess the third reason is money too… fine there are also other reasons:
- Resources, There are finite resources on earth and eventually we will finish up all the resources like coal that we have (assuming global warming doesn’t kill us all before that) Space gives us access to a new wave of resources.
- Colonization, instead of carrying everything needed for a mars mission we can just send asteroid mining rockets and build new rockets and structures… (cough cough death stars) in space.
- Did I mention Money, oh I did, well then I will just say it again. companies like DSI and Planetary resources have already started investing in asteroid mining for profit!
Asteroid mining is a great way to colonize mars and possibly other planets. There are many asteroids that wander near earth outside of the asteroid belt. The small gravity in asteroids means that spaceships can easily jump from asteroid to asteroid or some even say tow asteroids along with themselves. This innovation is next to harmless to humanity and provides almost no risk unless there is more than just resources on asteroids… ALIEN ATTAAAACK!!! Oh false alarm sorry got carried away.
Asteroids are a great opportunity Planetary resources has even stated that they can reduce space exploration costs by 95% for interplanetary travel with fuel stations on asteroids. Mining for gold… Dude your way behind, mining for crypto … fine that is cool, but if you really want to be on the trend take the next space elevator up and mine some asteroids. See ya up stars (I know I’m sorry that was a bad pun, even for me.)
Think Big, Think Ahead, Think Like a BOSS, and don’t forget to Get stuff Done.
