ASTROID MINING

Asteroid mining is the hypothetical extraction of materials from asteroids and other minor
planets, including near-Earth objects.

Notable asteroid mining challenges include the high cost of spaceflight, unreliable
identification of asteroids which are suitable for mining, and the challenges of extracting
usable material in a space environment.

Asteroid sample return research missions, such as Hayabusa, Hayabusa2, and in-
progress OSIRIS-REx illustrate the challenges of collecting ore from space using current
technology. As of 2023, less than 7 grams of asteroid material has been successfully
returned to Earth from space. In progress missions promise to increase this amount to
approximately 60 grams (two ounces). Asteroid research missions are complex endeavors and
return a tiny amount of material (less than 1 milligram Hayabusa, 100 milligrams Hayabusa2,
60 grams planned relative to the size and expense of these projects ($300 million Hayabusa,
$800 million Hayabusa2, $1.16 billion.

After a burst of interest in the 2010s, asteroid mining ambitions have shifted to more
distant long-term goals and some 'asteroid mining' companies have pivoted to more general-
purpose propulsion technology.

The history of asteroid mining is brief but features a gradual development. Ideas of
which asteroids to prospect, how to gather resources, and what to do with those resources
evolve over the decades.
HISTORY
Prior to 1970 Before 1970, asteroid mining existed largely within the realm of science
fiction. Stories such as Worlds of If, Scavengers in Space, and Miners in the Sky told stories
about the conceived dangers, motives, and experiences of mining asteroids. At the same time,
many researchers in academia speculated about the profits that could be gained from asteroid
mining, but they lacked the technology to seriously pursue the idea.

The 1969 Moon Landing spurred a wave of scientific interest in human space activity
far beyond the Earth's orbit. As the decade continued, more and more academic interest
surrounded the topic of asteroid mining. A good deal of serious academic consideration was
aimed at mining asteroids located closer to Earth than the main asteroid belt. In particular, the
asteroid groups Apollo and Amor were considered. These groups were chosen not only
because of their proximity to Earth but also because many at the time thought they were rich
in raw materials that could be refined.

Despite the wave of interest, many in the space science community were aware of how little
was known about asteroids and encouraged a more gradual and systematic approach to
asteroid mining.
MINERALS IN SPACE
As resource depletion on Earth becomes more real, the idea of extracting valuable
elements from asteroids and returning these to Earth for profit, or using space-based resources
to build solar-power satellites and space habitats, becomes more attractive. Hypothetically,
water processed from ice could refuel orbiting propellant depots.

Although asteroids and Earth accreted from the same starting materials, Earth's
relatively stronger gravity pulled all heavy siderophilic (iron-loving) elements into its core
during its molten youth more than four billion years ago. This left the crust depleted of such
valuable elements until a rain of asteroid impacts re-infused the depleted crust with metals
like gold, cobalt, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, osmium, palladium, platinum, rheniu
m, rhodium, ruthenium and tungsten (some flow from core to surface does occur, e.g. at
the Bushveld Igneous Complex, a famously rich source of platinum-group metals).[citation
needed] Today, these metals are mined from Earth's crust, and they are essential for economic
and technological progress. Hence, the geologic history of Earth may very well set the stage
for a future of asteroid mining.
 In 2006, the Keck Observatory announced that the binary Jupiter trojan 617
Patroclus, and possibly large numbers of other Jupiter trojans, are likely extinct comets and
consist largely of water ice. Similarly, Jupiter-family comets, and possibly near-Earth
asteroids that are extinct comets, might also provide water. The process of in-situ resource
utilization—using materials native to space for propellant, thermal management, tankage,
radiation shielding, and other high-mass components of space infrastructure—could lead to
radical reductions in its cost. Although whether these cost reductions could be achieved, and
if achieved would offset the enormous infrastructure investment required, is unknown.

An important factor to consider in target selection is orbital economics, in particular the

change in velocity and travel time to and from the target. More of the extracted native
material must be expended as propellant in higher trajectories, thus less returned as
payload. Direct Hohmann trajectories are faster than Hohmann trajectories assisted by
planetary and/or lunar flybys, which in turn are faster than those of the Interplanetary
Transport Network, but the reduction in transfer time comes at the cost of increased
requirements.
 The Easily Recoverable Object (ERO) subclass of Near-Earth asteroids are considered
likely candidates for early mining activity. Their low makes them suitable for use in
extracting construction materials for near-Earth space-based facilities, greatly reducing the
economic cost of transporting supplies into Earth orbit.

The table above shows a comparison of requirements for various missions. In terms of
propulsion energy requirements, a mission to a near-Earth asteroid compares favorably to
alternative mining missions.
 An example of a potential target[32] for an early asteroid mining expedition is 4660
Nereus, expected to be mainly enstatite. This body has a very low Δv compared to lifting
materials from the surface of the Moon. However, it would require a much longer round-trip
to return the material.

ASTEROID CATALOGING

The B612 Foundation is a private nonprofit foundation with headquarters in the United
States, dedicated to protecting Earth from asteroid strikes. As a non-governmental
organization it has conducted two lines of related research to help detect asteroids that could
one day strike Earth, and find the technological means to divert their path to avoid such
collisions.

The foundation's 2013 goal was to design and build a privately financed asteroid-
finding space telescope, Sentinel, hoping in 2013 to launch it in 2017–2018. The Sentinel's
infrared telescope, once parked in an orbit similar to that of Venus, is designed to help
identify threatening asteroids by cataloging 90% of those with diameters larger than 140
metres (460 ft), as well as surveying smaller Solar System objects. After NASA terminated
their $30 million funding agreement with the B612 Foundation in October 2015 and the
private fundraising did not achieve its goals, the Foundation eventually opted for an
alternative approach using a constellation of much smaller spacecraft which is under study as
of June 2017. NASA/JPL's NEOCam has been proposed instead.
MINING CONSIDERATIONS
There are four options for mining:

1. In-space manufacturing (ISM), which may be enabled by biomining.

2. Bring raw asteroidal material to Earth for use.
3. Process it on-site to bring back only processed materials, and perhaps produce
propellant for the return trip.
4. Transport the asteroid to a safe orbit around the Moon or Earth or to the ISS. This can
hypothetically allow for most materials to be used and not wasted.
 Processing in situ for the purpose of extracting high-value minerals will reduce the
energy requirements for transporting the materials, although the processing facilities must
first be transported to the mining site. In situ mining will involve drilling boreholes and
injecting hot fluid/gas and allow the useful material to react or melt with the solvent and
extract the solute. Due to the weak gravitational fields of asteroids, any activities, like
drilling, will cause large disturbances and form dust clouds. These might be confined by
some dome or bubble barrier. Or else some means of rapidly dissipating any dust could be
provided for.

Mining operations require special equipment to handle the extraction and processing
of ore in outer space. The machinery will need to be anchored to the body,[citation
needed] but once in place, the ore can be moved about more readily due to the lack of
gravity. However, no techniques for refining ore in zero gravity currently exist. Docking
with an asteroid might be performed using a harpoon-like process, where a projectile
would penetrate the surface to serve as an anchor; then an attached cable would be used to
winch the vehicle to the surface, if the asteroid is both penetrable and rigid enough for a
harpoon to be effective.

Due to the distance from Earth to an asteroid selected for mining, the round-trip
time for communications will be several minutes or more, except during occasional close
approaches to Earth by near-Earth asteroids. Thus any mining equipment will either need
to be highly automated, or a human presence will be needed nearby. Humans would also
be useful for troubleshooting problems and for maintaining the equipment. On the other
hand, multi-minute communications delays have not prevented the success of
robotic exploration of Mars, and automated systems would be much less expensive to
build and deploy.

Near-Earth object
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into
proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to
the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). If a NEO's orbit crosses the
Earth's orbit, and the object is larger than 140 meters (460 ft) across, it is considered
a potentially hazardous object (PHO). Most known PHOs and NEOs are asteroids, but a small
fraction are comets.

There are over 30,503 known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and over a hundred known
short-period near-Earth comets (NECs). A number of solar-orbiting meteoroids were large
enough to be tracked in space before striking Earth. It is now widely accepted that collisions
in the past have had a significant role in shaping the geological and biological history of
Earth. Asteroids as small as 20 metres (66 ft) in diameter can cause significant damage to the
local environment and human populations. Larger asteroids penetrate the atmosphere to the
surface of the Earth, producing craters if they impact a continent or tsunamis if they impact
the sea. Interest in NEOs has increased since the 1980s because of greater awareness of this
potential danger. Asteroid impact avoidance by deflection is possible in principle, and
methods of mitigation are being researched.
 Two scales, the simple Torino scale and the more complex Palermo scale, rate the risk
presented by an identified NEO based on the probability of it impacting the Earth and on how
severe the consequences of such an impact would be. Some NEOs have had temporarily
positive Torino or Palermo scale ratings after their discovery.

Since 1998, the United States, the European Union, and other nations are scanning the
sky for NEOs in an effort called Spaceguard. The initial US Congress mandate to NASA to
catalog at least 90% of NEOs that are at least 1 kilometre (3,300 ft) in diameter, sufficient to
cause a global catastrophe, was met by 2011. In later years, the survey effort was expanded to
include smaller objects which have the potential for large-scale, though not global, damage.
 NEOs have low surface gravity, and many have Earth-like orbits that make them easy
targets for spacecraft. As of January 2019, five near-Earth comets and five near-Earth
asteroids have been visited by spacecraft. A small sample of one NEO was returned to Earth
in 2010, and similar missions are in progress. Preliminary plans for commercial asteroid
mining have been drafted by private startup companies, either through the use of robots or
even by sending private commercial astronauts to act as space miners.

DESINITIONS
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are by convention technically defined as all small Solar
System bodies with orbits around the Sun that lie partly between 0.983 and 1.3 astronomical
units (AU; Sun–Earth distance) away from the Sun. NEOs are thus not necessarily currently
near the Earth, but they can potentially approach the Earth relatively closely. The term is also

\
sometimes used more flexibly, for example for objects in orbit around the Earth or for quasi-
satellites, which have a more complex orbital relationship with the Earth.

When a NEO is detected, like all other small Solar System bodies, its positions and
brightness are submitted to the International Astronomical Union's (IAU's) Minor Planet
Center (MPC) for cataloging. The MPC maintains separate lists of confirmed NEOs and
potential NEOs. The orbits of some NEOs intersect that of the Earth, so they pose a collision
danger. These are considered potentially hazardous objects (PHOs) if their estimated diameter
is above 140 meters. The MPC maintains a separate list for the asteroids among PHOs, the
potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs). NEOs are also catalogued by two separate units of
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA): the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) and the Solar System Dynamics
Group.

PHAs are defined based on two parameters relating to respectively their potential to
approach the Earth dangerously closely and the estimated consequences that an impact would
have if it occurs. Objects with both an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of
0.05 AU or less and an absolute magnitude of 22.0 or brighter (a rough indicator of large size)
are considered PHAs. Objects that either cannot approach closer to the Earth i.e. MOID
greater than 0.05 AU (7,500,000 km; 4,600,000 mi), or which are fainter than H = 22.0 (about
140 m (460 ft) in diameter with assumed albedo of 14%), are not considered PHAs. NASA's
catalog of near-Earth objects includes the approach distances of asteroids and comets
(expressed in lunar distances).

Near-Earth comets

Near-Earth comets (NECs) are objects in a near-Earth orbit with a tail or coma. Comet
nuclei are typically less dense than asteroids but they pass Earth at higher relative speeds, thus
the impact energy of a comet nucleus is slightly larger than that of a similar-sized asteroid.
NECs may pose an additional hazard due to fragmentation: the meteoroid streams which
produce meteor showers may include large inactive fragments, effectively NEAs. Although
no impact of a comet in Earth's history has been conclusively confirmed, the Tunguska
event may have been caused by a fragment of Comet Encke.
 Comets are commonly divided between short-period and long-period comets. Short-
period comets, with an orbital period of less than 200 years, originate in the Kuiper belt,
beyond the orbit of Neptune; while long-period comets originate in the Oort Cloud, in the
outer reaches of the Solar System. The orbital period distinction is of importance in the
evaluation of the risk from near-Earth comets because short-period NECs are likely to have
been observed during multiple apparitions and thus their orbits can be determined with some
precision, while long-period NECs can be assumed to have been seen for the first and last
time when they appeared during the Age of Science, thus their approaches cannot be
predicted well in advance. Since the threat from long-period NECs is estimated to be at most
1% of the threat from NEAs, and long-period comets are very faint and thus difficult to detect
at large distances from the Sun, Spaceguard efforts have consistently focused on asteroids and
short-period comets. CNEOS even restricts its definition of NECs to short-period
cometsNear-Earth comets (NECs) are objects in a near-Earth orbit with a tail or coma.
Comet nuclei are typically less dense than asteroids but they pass Earth at higher relative
speeds, thus the impact energy of a comet nucleus is slightly larger than that of a similar-sized
asteroid. NECs may pose an additional hazard due to fragmentation: the meteoroid streams
which produce meteor showers may include large inactive fragments, effectively
NEAs. Although no impact of a comet in Earth's history has been conclusively confirmed,
the Tunguska event may have been caused by a fragment of Comet Encke.
 Comets are commonly divided between short-period and long-period comets. Short-
period comets, with an orbital period of less than 200 years, originate in the Kuiper belt,
beyond the orbit of Neptune; while long-period comets originate in the Oort Cloud, in the
outer reaches of the Solar System. The orbital period distinction is of importance in the
evaluation of the risk from near-Earth comets because short-period NECs are likely to have
been observed during multiple apparitions and thus their orbits can be determined with some
precision, while long-period NECs can be assumed to have been seen for the first and last
time when they appeared during the Age of Science, thus their approaches cannot be
predicted well in advance. Since the threat from long-period NECs is estimated to be at most
1% of the threat from NEAs, and long-period comets are very faint and thus difficult to detect
at large distances from the Sun, Spaceguard efforts have consistently focused on asteroids and
short-period comets. CNEOS even restricts its definition of NECs to short-period comets

As of November 2021, only 23 comets have been observed to pass within 0.1 AU
(15,000,000 km; 9,300,000 mi) of Earth, including 10 which are or have been short-period
comets. Two of these comets, Halley's Comet and 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, have been
observed during multiple close approaches. The closest observed approach was 0.0151 AU
(5.88 LD) for Lexell's Comet on July 1, 1770. After an orbit change due to a close approach
of Jupiter in 1779, this object is no longer a NEC. The closest approach ever observed for a
current short-period NEC is 0.0229 AU (8.92 LD) for Comet Tempel–Tuttle in 1366.
[121] This comet is the parent body of the Leonid meteor shower, which also produced the
Great Meteor Storm of 1833. Orbital calculations show that P/1999 J6 (SOHO), a
faint sungrazing comet and confirmed short-period NEC observed only during its close
approaches to the Sun, passed Earth undetected at a distance of 0.0121 AU (4.70 LD) on June
12, 1999.

Comet 109P/Swift–Tuttle, which is also the source of the Perseid meteor shower every
year in August, has a roughly 130-year orbit that passes close to the Earth. During the comet's
September 1992 recovery, when only the two previous returns in 1862 and 1737 had been
identified, calculations showed that the comet would pass close to Earth during its next return
in 2126, with an impact within the range of uncertainty. By 1993, even earlier returns (back to
at least 188 AD) have been identified, and the longer observation arc eliminated the impact
risk. The comet will pass Earth in 2126 at a distance of 23 million kilometers. In 3044, the
comet is expected to pass Earth at less than 1.6 million kilometers.

As of November 2021, only 23 comets have been observed to pass within 0.1 AU
(15,000,000 km; 9,300,000 mi) of Earth, including 10 which are or have been short-period
comets.[121] Two of these comets, Halley's Comet and 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, have
been observed during multiple close approaches. The closest observed approach was
0.0151 AU (5.88 LD) for Lexell's Comet on July 1, 1770. After an orbit change due to a close
approach of Jupiter in 1779, this object is no longer a NEC. The closest approach ever
observed for a current short-period NEC is 0.0229 AU (8.92 LD) for Comet Tempel–Tuttle in
1366. This comet is the parent body of the Leonid meteor shower, which also produced the
Great Meteor Storm of 1833. Orbital calculations show that P/1999 J6 (SOHO), a
faint sungrazing comet and confirmed short-period NEC observed only during its close
approaches to the Sun, passed Earth undetected at a distance of 0.0121 AU (4.70 LD) on June
12, 1999.
 Comet 109P/Swift–Tuttle, which is also the source of the Perseid meteor shower every
year in August, has a roughly 130-year orbit that passes close to the Earth. During the comet's
September 1992 recovery, when only the two previous returns in 1862 and 1737 had been
identified, calculations showed that the comet would pass close to Earth during its next return
in 2126, with an impact within the range of uncertainty. By 1993, even earlier returns (back to
at least 188 AD) have been identified, and the longer observation arc eliminated the impact
risk. The comet will pass Earth in 2126 at a distance of 23 million kilometers. In 3044, the
comet is expected to pass Earth at less than 1.6 million kilometers.

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
If you enjoy science fiction, then you know that the thought of colonizing the moon
makes for some incredibly imaginative stories. But there is a good possibility that lunar cities
will become a reality during the 21st century! Colonizing Mars is another option as well.
Right now, one of the biggest problems with the idea of a moon colony is the question of
building supplies.

There is no Home Depot on the moon, so the building supplies have to come from
somewhere. The only place to get the supplies right now is the Earth, with the space shuttle
acting as a truck. Using the space shuttle in this way is something like using FedEx to get all
of the materials for building a house to a construction site — It’s incredibly expensive and not
very efficient!

Asteroids may be a much better place to get the supplies. Early evidence suggests that
there are trillions of dollars’ worth of minerals and metals buried in asteroids that come close
to the Earth. Asteroids are so close that many scientists think an asteroid mining mission is
easily feasible. Several international organizations are developing plans for going up to get
these natural space resources.

Scientists think asteroids are leftover material from the early formation of the solar
system or debris from the destruction of a planet. There are tens of thousands of asteroids
circling the sun. Most are grouped inside the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter. Some asteroids that stray from this orbit, though, flying close to Earth on occasion —
you’ve probably heard about the possibility of these asteroids smashing into Earth in the
future, as in the movie “Armageddon.”

Even without a manned mission to do a full-scale study of an asteroid, scientists know a

lot about what asteroids contain. Astronomers use telescopic spectroscopy, which analyzes
light reflected from the asteroid’s surface, to find out what might be there. In addition to iron,
nickel and magnesium, scientists think water, oxygen, gold and platinum also exist on some
asteroids.

Water interests space explorers most because it could help keep a space colony alive.
Without water, there is really no way to move forward with human exploration of space.
Water could also be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen to form rocket engine propellant.
The metal ore on the asteroids could be mined and used for building spacecraft and other
structures for a space colony.
DIMENSION OF MAJOR ASTEROID COMPONENTS
Asteroids vary greatly in size, from almost 1000 km for the largest down to rocks just
1 meter across, below which an object is classified as a meteoroid. The three largest are very
much like miniature planets: they are roughly spherical, have at least partly differentiated
interiors, and are thought to be surviving protoplanets. The vast majority, however, are much
smaller and are irregularly shaped; they are thought to be either battered planetesimals or
fragments of larger bodies.

The dwarf planet Ceres is by far the largest asteroid, with a diameter of 940 km
(580 mi). The next largest are 4 Vesta and 2 Pallas, both with diameters of just over 500 km
(300 mi). Vesta is the brightest of the four main-belt asteroids that can, on occasion, be visible
to the naked eye. On some rare occasions, a near-Earth asteroid may briefly become visible
without technical aid; see 99942 Apophis.

The mass of all the objects of the asteroid belt, lying between the orbits
of Mars and Jupiter, is estimated to be (2394±6)×1018 kg, ≈ 3.25% of the mass of the Moon.
Of this, Ceres comprises 938×1018 kg, about 40% of the total. Adding in the next three most
massive objects, Vesta (11%), Pallas (8.5%), and Hygiea (3–4%), brings this figure up to a bit
over 60%, whereas the next seven most-massive asteroids bring the total up to 70%. The
number of asteroids increases rapidly as their individual masses decrease.

The number of asteroids decreases markedly with increasing size. Although the size
distribution generally follows a power law, there are 'bumps' at about 5 km and 100 km,
where more asteroids than expected from such a curve are found. Most asteroids larger than
approximately 120 km in diameter are primordial (surviving from the accretion epoch),
whereas most smaller asteroids are products of fragmentation of primordial asteroids. The
primordial population of the main belt was probably 200 times what it is today.

Three largest objects in the asteroid belt, Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas, are
intact protoplanets that share many characteristics common to planets, and are atypical
compared to the majority of irregularly shaped asteroids. The fourth-largest asteroid, Hygiea,
appears nearly spherical although it may have an undifferentiated interior, like the majority of
asteroids. The four largest asteroids constitute half the mass of the asteroid belt.
 Ceres is the only asteroid that appears to have a plastic shape under its own gravity and
hence the only one that is a dwarf planet. It has a much higher absolute magnitude than the
other asteroids, of around 3.32, and may possess a surface layer of ice. Like the planets, Ceres
is differentiated: it has a crust, a mantle and a core. No meteorites from Ceres have been
found on Earth

Vesta, too, has a differentiated interior, though it formed inside the Solar System's frost
line, and so is devoid of water; its composition is mainly of basaltic rock with minerals such
as olivine. Aside from the large crater at its southern pole, Rheasilvia, Vesta also has an
ellipsoidal shape. Vesta is the parent body of the Vestian family and other V-type asteroids,
and is the source of the HED meteorites, which constitute 5% of all meteorites on Earth.

Pallas is unusual in that, like Uranus, it rotates on its side, with its axis of rotation tilted at
high angles to its orbital plane. Its composition is similar to that of Ceres: high in carbon and
silicon, and perhaps partially differentiated. Pallas is the parent body of the Palladian
family of asteroids.

Hygiea is the largest carbonaceous asteroid and, unlike the other largest asteroids, lies
relatively close to the plane of the ecliptic. It is the largest member and presumed parent body
of the Hygiean family of asteroids. Because there is no sufficiently large crater on the surface
to be the source of that family, as there is on Vesta, it is thought that Hygiea may have been
completely disrupted in the collision that formed the Hygiean family and recoalesced after
losing a bit less than 2% of its mass. Observations taken with the Very Large
Telescope's SPHERE imager in 2017 and 2018, revealed that Hygiea has a nearly spherical
shape, which is consistent both with it being in hydrostatic equilibrium, or formerly being in
hydrostatic equilibrium, or with being disrupted and recoalescing.

Internal differentiation of large asteroids is possibly related to their lack of natural

satellites, as satellites of main belt asteroids are mostly believed to form from collisional
disruption, creating a rubble pile structure.