Background Image 1 - (Kosovo Times, 2016)
An Introduction: What is an asteroid?
An asteroid is a small, rocky object usually the result of a failed planet formation (Morbidelli, n.d.) usually hailing from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. However, many asteroids can also be found closer to Earth and are called “Near Earth Asteroids” with estimates in 1997 placing the number of these objects at 430 (Sonter, 1997).
Broad Classifications of Asteroids:
C-type – These chondrites are very common are predominantly composed of silicates and clays
S-type – These stony asteroids are composed of silicates and nickel-iron materials
M-type – Metallic asteroids composed of nickel-iron (NASA Solar System Exploration, 2016) and may be 50-220 ppm precious metals (Kargel, 1994)
Broad Classifications of Asteroids:
C-type – These chondrites are very common are predominantly composed of silicates and clays
S-type – These stony asteroids are composed of silicates and nickel-iron materials
M-type – Metallic asteroids composed of nickel-iron (NASA Solar System Exploration, 2016) and may be 50-220 ppm precious metals (Kargel, 1994)
What Useful Materials do Asteroids Contain?
Figure 1 - (House Committee on Natural Resources, n.d.)
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The contents of asteroids vary from precious metals such as platinum and rhodium (Kargel, 1994) as well as minerals associated with low silica volcanic eruptions such as olivine (Zolensky et al., 2014). The likely targets of asteroid mining would likely be the former resources since even after a market devaluation of precious metals after a dump of 400,000 metric tonnes the value would likely still be US$320 billion after 20 years of selling (Kargel, 1994). This prediction however, should not be taken as absolute since precious metals appear to conform to their own rules of valuation, not just dependant on supply and demand. (Kargel, 1994).
Many of the materials potentially available on asteroids are currently being extracted on Earth though processes that put intense pressure on the environment. Gold is such a material and its extraction is particularly harmful (Johnson, 2015) since cyanide is a chemical widely used in its extraction. |
Why Leave Earth?
Figure 2 - (Nerdtalker, 2009)
Figure 3 - (energyskeptic, 2014)
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Perhaps the most important question to answer about extra-terrestrial mining is; why? Aside from the environmental aspect of taking resource extraction off of Earth. Economic factors may provide the answer, like fossil fuels, metallic minerals are a finite resource that will run out. As it stands, indium, a metal used in smartphones and has applications in green energy production, such as in solar cell coatings (Wu, 2014), may be out of reach within as little as ten years (Nuwer, 2014).
While the loss of one resource has historically resulted in its substitution with another, such as when the guano (preserved sea-bird dung rich in phosphates, nitrates and metal nutrients) reserves of the Peruvian Chincha Islands (discovered by Alexander von Humboldt 1804) were depleted by 1874 after reaching peak production throughout 1840-1870, a non-organic substitute for guano was found in the Atacama Desert (Fulp, 2012). This story presents two reasons to start utilizing asteroid mining since it shows that humanity is capable of exploiting a resource to the point that it is no longer found in economic quantities and in this case, guano was replaced with non-organic, mineral resources which are even less renewable than guano, taking even longer to form sizable deposits. While resources such as fossil fuels are in short supply, pre-existing alternatives could be utilised however, metallic minerals, which could run out sooner than fossil fuels, (150 years are left for liquid hydrocarbons according to Tom Murphey, an astrophysicist from UCSD (Murphy, 2012). Compared to ten years for some metals (Nuwer, 2014)) are non-replaceable. These estimates can go up and down depending on the price of the commodities. Industrial scale supplies of metals can increase through a higher price for that metal, this is where the issue of the affordability of technology comes in; according to Nuwer “Mobile phones alone contain a whopping 60 to 64 elements.” (Cited from Nuwer, 2014) This, along with other examples of modern electronics, shows that most modern technology relies on varied concoctions of metals, including rare-earth elements. This means that the increase in the price of one metal may result in many forms of technology becoming unaffordable to the general population. When faced with the problem of a supply shortage in a commodity, a materials scientist by the name of Dr. Tso-Ping Ma believes. “If something becomes very, very rare, people like us [materials scientists] will look for something else as good or better.” (Cited from Wu, 2014). Despite this reassurance, as it stands not everything can be replaced and replacements may be more expensive than or unsustainable as the metals themselves, for example, Whitlock claims that polymers could replace copper in electronics which would preserve copper but put more pressure on oil supplies which are just as or more unsustainable than copper (Whitlock, n.d.). Wu claims that metals could just be recycled to the point where the metals supply is a closed loop with no waste (Wu, 2014), this would help sustain a constant quantity of metals in the market however this approach leaves no room for market growth once the raw sources of the metals run out. In summary, from an economic standpoint, resource acquisition and extraction should move off Earth to maintain the consumption of metals today and tomorrow with room for nearly infinite growth from near-earth asteroids alone, type Q, S and M near earth asteroids have been proven to contain platinum group metals (Sonter, 1997) and other metals such as indium, which are in dwindling supply on Earth. |