Mining from asteroids

NASA has planned to test the ability to exploit giant mines containing rare minerals in the form of asteroids.

>>>Mining ore on asteroids

The US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced it will conduct a special mission in 2016 to determine the foundation for the meteorite mining industry, an activity that can add trillions of dollars to the economy. world. Accordingly, OSIRIS-REx will arrive at the asteroid in 2018 with the goal of collecting specimens and returning to Earth. Scientists hope the mission can boost the development of related technologies, allowing people to exploit asteroids early and take advantage of their rare metal resources.

The shortage of raw materials on earth has accelerated the global inflation rate in recent years, causing tension between countries to worsen. NASA scientists reassure that the high content of raw materials on asteroids, from iron to platinum, can provide vital resources for the earth, solving the shortage problem. . Asteroids range in size from a few meters to hundreds of kilometers and according to the scientific world, a house-sized asteroid can also contain hundreds of millions of dollars worth of metal. For example, an A-type asteroid (10m wide) can contain a significant amount of metal including iron, nickel, cobalt, as well as gold, platinum and rhodium.'An S-type asteroid less than 650,000kg of metal, with 50kg of rare metal like platinum and gold, ' Space.com quoted Laurent Dante of the University of Arizona in Tucson, the mission leader of OSIRIS-REx.

NASA promotes asteroid exploration plan - (Photo: NASA)

However, before exploiting precious mineral deposits that are hovering in the space near the earth, the immediate problem is how to plan and organize this mission, which can cost up to hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. Another obstacle is the lack of experience in drawing furniture and analyzing resources on asteroids to exploit materials. And this is the goal of the OSIRIS-REx mission. The cruise ship, scheduled to be launched in September 2016, will approach the asteroid Bennu in October 2018 and study this celestial body before returning to Earth with samples of materials taken from the surface. its.

Because asteroids are remnants of the solar system's early imagery, their analysis will reveal close-up views of how planets form and life grows. . The spacecraft also measures the propulsion of sunlight to interfere with Bennu's orbit, in order to understand the risk of asteroids being able to plunge into the earth. In order to ensure successful sampling, NASA has arranged three phases, if the first attempt fails, the team of experts has two more times to collect at least 60gr of samples and a maximum of 2,000gr.'The mission will be a proof of concept, to determine whether you can go to an asteroid, get materials and bring it back to Earth , ' said Lauretta expert. Next, people must industrialize the space mining industry, and it is estimated that half of the mining value must be dumped into the transport process to the earth.

In addition to the ambition of platinum mines and other rare minerals, both NASA and private investors want to tap water on asteroids to provide orbit fuel stations, moving forward. serving other space missions.