Mining useful materials from asteroids may seem like something out of the ordinary, but in fact companies and even some governments are already seriously considering this possibility. Why not: in comparison with the colossal technical problems that have to be solved on Earth, in the conditions of our gravity, on an asteroid everything will be much simpler, on a smaller scale, in high concentration and with the simplest technological solutions. One can only hope that asteroid mining will start fast enough to solve the resource problems that the world is facing right now.
Scientists are working with companies that plan to develop asteroids to accelerate this future. Due to the secrecy of individual data, they cannot tell about much - a commercial secret. Nevertheless, the main reasons for optimism and what it might mean for our future - they speak about it quite openly.
Many people are skeptical about mining on asteroids because they think it's all about bringing platinum back on sale on Earth. The media confidently state that a platinum asteroid could be worth trillions of dollars, but anyone with a basic understanding of economic realities will say that the appearance of a giant reserve of the precious metal on the planet will simply bring down the market, thereby reducing the value of the asteroid.
On the other hand, if the plan is to mine platinum in small chunks while maintaining a high cost (as is the case with diamonds, for example), how then will asteroid miners compete with Earth miners who already benefit from the existing supply and transportation chain?
This is why platinum is not the target of space miners. The first product from asteroids will be something less obvious: water.
For rocket scientists, water is a raw material for fuel. Launching water from Earth into space requires a lot of fuel, which makes the whole concept dubious and insular. Fortunately, there is a lot of water in space and it is easier to move it. Water can be extracted from clay minerals on common small bodies - carbonaceous asteroids. Once separated from the minerals, water can be electrically separated (by electrolysis) into hydrogen and oxygen, and then used in rocket fuel.
Producing rocket fuel in space will reduce the cost of all other processes that take place in space, helping to kick-start the supply chain and extraterrestrial transport chain. Before that can happen, however, you need to find operators who can start the process.
Who will buy rocket fuel made from asteroid water? One concept is to sell it to telecommunications companies to launch satellites into orbit. A decade ago, most satellites were launched attached to a small rocket upper stage. She put the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit, which lies at the lowest point 200 kilometers above the Earth's surface and at the highest - 36,000 kilometers. The spacecraft aims at the highest point, the satellite is released and starts transmitting data to users. The cost of the spent upper stage, however, is quite high.
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Today, most satellite owners place a small electric motor on a spacecraft. It is cheaper and more efficient, but very weak. It takes six to twelve months for a satellite to enter its final orbit. Time is money, so this delay is costing satellite owners hundreds of millions of lost profits.
Asteroid mining will provide a third option. The development company will sell the water to a space transport company, which will use it to fuel a space barge parked in Earth orbit. The barge will dock with a launched satellite in a geo-transfer orbit and put it into its final orbit during the day.
According to scientists, the cost of this service, including the return of capital, financial expenses, insurance and profit for all parties, will be less than the lost profit in modern realities, which means that this is a business case. The only problem is finding enough customers who are willing to use this service.
And this is where space agencies like NASA can help. If they develop a fuel storage in space to lower their costs of exploring the Moon or Mars, and if they sign commercial contracts to supply space water, they will reduce capital investment and risk for new mining companies. In some way, government agencies can ensure the early success of the private space industry.
The asteroid mining infrastructure will help solve a major resource challenge. In ten to twenty years, the current satellite and fiber system will not be able to cover the need for wireless and Internet data transmission. There is no solution yet, other than making antennas in space that are too large to be sent on rockets, because there is nothing that can be scaled fast enough to meet the data needs that will grow exponentially for the rest of the century. Asteroid metal won't sell on Earth because it's too expensive. It will remain in space, helping transmit valuable data in the digital marketplace.
It is also believed that generating solar energy in space this century will become cheaper than generating energy on Earth by any known method. This energy will then be transmitted to the earth using microwaves. Moving much of the energy sector into space will free the planet from the environmental problems associated with energy generation and the supply chain for that very energy. Even wind and solar energy require huge areas of land.
By some estimates, off-planet energy generation could cut industrial emissions by a quarter by 2100. And this is without taking into account the exponentially growing energy production and operation of computers.
Keep in mind that none of these ideas involve bringing asteroid materials back to Earth for sale. The real value of space mining will lie in creating a space industry that benefits all of us. The main imports from space will be massless photons carrying data and energy.
An important point that our government leaders need to understand is that investing in space mines is a safe bet for our future, one of the safest. NASA and other space agencies will have the opportunity to conduct more research, as well as increase their geopolitical presence at a low cost. Saving the Earth and improving our quality of life will be just a welcome addition.
Ilya Khel