Asteroid Mining: What, Why, How,

When, Where, Who

A rundown of the basics of asteroid mining
What
Asteroid mining is a theoretical means
for obtaining additional resources to
augment our current resources on Earth,
and a possible means for humans to get
resources that can be used on other
planets, like Mars. The majority of
mineable asteroids include Platinum
metals, which are used mainly for
catalytic converters, an essential part for
every gasoline and diesel engine. So far,
about 28,000 ideal candidates have been
identified, with some of them taking less
energy to reach than the Moon.
Why
Asteroids are a massive, untapped
resource that can help us with not
only shortages of materials on
Earth, but if we need resources on
other planets in the future. Instead
of bringing 50 tons of metal with us
to Mars, we can take 1,000 pounds
of equipment and then have access
to thousands of asteroids.
How
The process is very similar to mining
on Earth: Find a suitable location (In
this case with a surveying satellite),
explore it (in this case with a robotic
probe) and then extract it (send a
larger probe to extract material and
then return it). This would involve
some very advanced robotics that
would need to be developed expressly
for asteroid mining.
When
The Asteroid Mining Corporation
(A real life corporation in the UK!)
is hoping to return an asteroid to
Earth by 2025. Asteroid mining
could also be employed in the long
term if we start running low on
resources, or if we end up trying to
move to Mars or another planet.
Where
Most of the ideal mining candidates are
called NEA’s or near earth asteroids.
Most of them would be about as easy to
reach as the Moon, some of them even
requiring less energy to reach than the
Moon. In the image, the blue-highlighted
dots are all NEA’s.
Who/Ethics
Who would benefit from asteroid mining?
The human population is constantly
growing, and is constantly in need of more
resources. It would seem logical that the
entire population could benefit from
asteroid mining, but the reality is probably
much different. The large corporations that
will end up mining the asteroids will end up
reaping almost all the rewards, while the
rest of the world will most likely end up
with more resources, but no more money,
prosperity, or jobs. This has happened on
Earth with huge corporations like Glencore
PLC, the BHP Group, and Jiangxi Copper.
Conclusion: Should we go to Space?
I think the answer is yes, we should go
to space. BUT, only for resources. It is
more important to try to live here on
Earth instead of throwing away all of
our progress and trying to go to
another inhospitable planet. All of the
ethical, financial, and other concerns
of going to space aren’t worth it, I
think. The vast amount of resources in
space are worth exploring, but we
should stay on Earth where we belong.
There’s still so much of Earth we have
left to explore and save.