MAY 01

A group of entrepreneurs has announced the formation of a new company called Planetary Resources with the goal of collecting valuable, useful minerals from asteroids. "Planetary Resources hopes to go after the platinum-group metals — which include platinum, palladium, osmium, and iridium — highly valuable commodities used in medical devices, renewable energy products, catalytic converters, and potentially in automotive fuel cells."

The technology and information about asteroids is not in place for this to be undertaken immediately. The company plans successive levels of exploration, beginning with a series of private, orbital telescopes to be used to survey asteroids. This would be followed by spacecraft to intercept asteroids approaching Earth's orbit for further study and analysis, and then further deepspace explorer craft to study and gather information about more distant asteroids, and then finally get to the mining of minerals from the asteroids. Whether these materials would be refined in space or whether the ore would be returned to Earth for processing is one of many questions about the process that would ultimately be used.

The development of new, low-cost space technology is likely to have additional spin-off benefits. But does this make mining asteroids a really green technology? The mining of minerals from the Earth's crust creates huge despoiled areas across the globe. But, it is enormously expensive to launch vehicles into space, and the cost of minerals returned from asteroids will have enormous costs that need to be paid off before they can be cost competitive with mining on Earth. But, if the concentrations are high enough to make it practical, and the automation of the process can be developed, then it may be worthwhile. The forests that do not have to be torn away and the mountaintops that don't need to be removed in order to provide minerals for human technology can come from elsewhere, and the planet can be returned to supporting life, something it is apparently unique in being able to do.

Ultimately, the answers to the viability of this method will have to be proved. It seems promising in the abstract, and we won't know for sure for many years. But for now, it's an intriguing thought, and we'll be interested to see what future developments this idea brings.

Comments (7)

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written by marvis, May 01, 2012

I am not sure if space mining is "green" in the classical sense of the word. However, I would argue that space mining could pave the path to a truly sustainable economy.

We all know that earth's resources are limited and no matter how good we will get at recycling and saving energy, the ressources will at some point run out. It's just a matter of time.

Space mining has the potential to solve that resource problem in the long run. As with most new technologies, there will probably be a price to pay, but I would at least give it a chance.

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written by Trion, May 02, 2012

Since when has viability been a deciding factor wither or not something was green? I would think that we would want to look more at factors like what kind of pollution we would get from the rockets vs. conventional methods. But I do think this is a good idea. We have limits on what we can get from this planet and we will need space exploration to counter our breeding habits.

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Off world mining could introduce pathogens to Earth
written by Gripp, May 02, 2012

It is a well known fact that asteroids carry organic molecules, in fact it is thought likely that asteroids carried the recipe for self-replicating organic chemicals to Earth 4.5 billion years ago.

I don't think we should risk the chance of bringing these materials back to Earth unless they have been rendered harmless first. Since it is not possible to be absolutely sure that materials have been rendered harmless it is best to not bring them back to Earth at all. The danger is too high.

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It's Not So Dangerous
written by Ronald Brak, May 09, 2012

Gripp, stuff from space falls to earth every day without harm. The material doesn't get cooked on the way down as meteorites are often still cold on the inside. While bringing material from space to earth might not be profitable, contamination isn't an issue.

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The new future
written by Yida, May 09, 2012

I think the space mining would be epic. Minerals found in those asteroids could be filled with heaps of unknown atoms and minerals, or there could somehow be a this massive gold chunk (imagine that!)
I don't think that this technology is going to become as useful as it seems at the moment, but who knows, in the future, it could become the only way to live!

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Space Mining is Inevitable
written by Carol S. , May 14, 2012

Not only is space mining inevitable, it has been a staple of both high-quality and schlock science fiction for decades. For the "high quality" stuff, read Ben Bova; I won't recommend any of the "schlock" authors.

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I suppose it is
written by Robert, June 13, 2012

As you mentioned in the article forests and large expanses of land will be protected by this kind of change. By the time this company will be sending their telescope, and later the probes into space I imagine there will be more fuel efficient ways of getting into space. Who knows maybe we can count on that space elevator coming into fruition.

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