Mining asteroids could offer potential relief for Earth's resource strain.
Sarah Scoles reports for Undark.
In short:
- A new wave of companies, including AstroForge, aims to mine asteroids for valuable metals like platinum and cobalt, which are essential for electronics and electric vehicle batteries.
- Despite previous failures in asteroid mining, current prospects are bolstered by reduced rocket costs and favorable regulatory changes, sparking renewed interest.
- Innovations such as simulated extraction missions and telescopes for detecting asteroids are among the strategies companies are deploying to realize their cosmic ambitions.
Key quote:
“People were much more supportive of mining asteroids than other forms of frontier mining like mining the ocean floor, mining Antarctica, and mining the Alaskan tundra."
— Matthew Hornsey, University of Queensland, lead study author.
Why this matters:
Space mining presents a potentially less environmentally damaging alternative to terrestrial extraction, especially crucial for clean energy technologies. However, the challenges of space debris and ethical concerns about cosmic exploitation remain formidable.
Read more: In push to mine for minerals, clean energy advocates ask what going green really means.
