Ali Somarin blogs that many of the resources available on Earth at reasonable costs to produce are rapidly disappearing. Metals vital to technological and industrial processes, such as precious metals and strategic metals, including rare earth metals, are in short supply and have no known alternatives. The most accessible and profitable deposits may have been discovered already, leaving companies searching for new sources. It should be noted that new discoveries are still possible. But not withstanding, several years ago, a novel, even if a seemingly far-fetched, solution was proposed - mining in space, or more specifically, mining asteroids, which are thought to contain large deposits of gold, platinum, iron ore, and other minerals. Some geoscientists believe asteroid mining is inevitable, that mineral-rich asteroids are the key to the shortages to be faced on Earth in the foreseeable future. In a 2013 study, a team of NASA researchers suggested that the use of robotic machinery to carry out asteroid mining is not as unlikely as you might think. A summary of the study on NASA web site states that the researchers used computer modeling to determine that six generations of development could produce robots and automated machines capable of building and operating themselves without any Earthly materials. About two years ago, startup Planetary Resources Inc. unveiled a plan to explore asteroids, mine their resources, and bring them to Earth. Another company, Deep Space Industries, has a similar mission. For current views of industry geoscientists, see the AAPG-EMD Memoir 101, Chapter 9 to begin - http://i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/Memoir101-CHAPTER09Rev.pdf
Original URL working: https://www.thermofisher.com/blog/mining/space-the-final-frontierfor-mining/
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