The presence of water on the terrestrial planets of the Solar System (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the closely related Earth's Moon) varies with each planetary body, with the exact origins remaining unclear. Additionally, the terrestrial dwarf planet Ceres is known to have water ice on its surface.
Due to its proximity to the Sun and lack of visible water on its surface, the planet Mercury had been thought of as a non-volatile planet. Data retrieved from the Mariner 10 mission found evidence of hydrogen (H), helium (He), and oxygen (O) in Mercury's exosphere. Volatiles have also been found near the polar regions. MESSENGER, however, sent back data from multiple on-board instruments that led scientists to the conclusion that Mercury was volatile rich. Mercury is rich in potassium
(K) which has been suggested as a proxy for volatile depletion on the
planetary body. This leads to assumption that Mercury could have
accreted water on its surface, relative to that of Earth if its
proximity had not been so near that of the Sun.
The current Venusian atmosphere has only ~200 mg/kg H2O(g)
in its atmosphere and the pressure and temperature regime makes water
unstable on its surface. Nevertheless, assuming that early Venus's H2O had a ratio between deuterium (heavy hydrogen, 2H) and hydrogen (1H) similar to Earth's Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW) of 1.6×10−4, the current D/H ratio in the Venusian atmosphere of 1.9×10−2, at nearly ×120 of Earth's, may indicate that Venus had a much larger H2O inventory.
While the large disparity between terrestrial and Venusian D/H ratios
makes any estimation of Venus's geologically ancient water budget
difficult, its mass may have been at least 0.3% of Earth's hydrosphere. Estimates based on Venus's levels of deuterium suggest that the planet has lost anywhere from 4 metres (13 ft) of surface water up to "an Earth's ocean's worth".
Earth's hydrosphere contains ~1.46×1021 kg (3.22×1021 lb) of H2O and sedimentary rocks contain ~0.21×1021 kg (4.6×1020 lb), for a total crustal inventory of ~1.67×1021 kg (3.68×1021 lb) of H2O. The mantle inventory is poorly constrained in the range of 0.5×1021–4×1021 kg (1.1×1021–8.8×1021 lb). Therefore, the bulk inventory of H2O on Earth can be conservatively estimated as 0.04% of Earth's mass (~2.3×1021 kg (5.1×1021 lb)).
Recent observation made by a number of spacecraft confirmed significant amounts of lunar water. The secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) measured H2O as well as other possible volatiles in lunar volcanic glass bubbles. In these volcanic glasses, 4-46 ppm by weight (wt) of H2O was found and then modeled to have been 260-745 ppm wt prior to the lunar volcanic eruptions.
SIMS also found lunar water in the rock samples the Apollo astronauts
returned to Earth. These rock samples were tested in three different
ways and all came to the same conclusion that the Moon contains water.
There are three main data sets for water abundance on the lunar surface: highland samples, KREEP samples, and pyroclastic glass samples. Highlands samples were estimated for the lunar magma ocean at 1320-5000 ppm wt of H2O in the beginning. The urKREEP sample estimates a 130-240 ppm wt of H2O, which is similar to the findings in the current Highland samples (before modeling).
Pyroclastic glass sample beads were used to estimate the water content
in the mantle source and the bulk silicate Moon. The mantle source was
estimated at 110 ppm wt of H2O and the bulk silicate Moon contained 100-300 ppm wt of H2O.
A significant amount of surface hydrogen has been observed globally by the Mars Odyssey GRS. Stoichiometrically estimated water mass fractions indicate that—when free of carbon dioxide—the near surface at the poles consists almost entirely of water covered by a thin veneer of fine material. This is reinforced by MARSIS observations, with an estimated 1.6×106 km3 (3.8×105 cu mi) of water at the southern polar region with Water Equivalent to a Global layer (WEG) 11 metres (36 ft) deep.
Additional observations at both poles suggest the total WEG to be 30 m
(98 ft), while the Mars Odyssey NS observations places the lower bound
at ~14 cm (5.5 in) depth. Geomorphic evidence favors significantly larger quantities of surface water over geologic history, with WEG as deep as 500 m (1,600 ft).
The current atmospheric reservoir of water, though important as a
conduit, is insignificant in volume with the WEG no more than 10 μm
(0.00039 in). Since the typical surface pressure of the current atmosphere (~6 hPa (0.087 psi)) is less than the triple point of H2O, liquid water is unstable on the surface unless present in sufficiently large volumes. Furthermore, the average global temperature is ~220 K (−53 °C; −64 °F), even below the eutectic freezing point of most brines. For comparison, the highest diurnal surface temperatures at the two MER sites have been ~290 K (17 °C; 62 °F).
The D/H isotopic ratio is a primary constraint on the source of H2O
of terrestrial planets. Comparison of the planetary D/H ratios with
those of carbonaceous chondrites and comets enables a tentative
determination of the source of H2O. The best constraints for accreted H2O are determined from non-atmospheric H2O, as the D/H ratio of the atmospheric component may be subject to rapid alteration by the preferential loss of H unless it is in isotopic equilibrium with surface H2O. Earth's VSMOW D/H ratio of 1.6×10−4
and modeling of impacts suggest that the cometary contribution to
crustal water was less than 10%. However, much of the water could be
derived from Mercury-sized planetary embryos that formed in the asteroid belt beyond 2.5 AU. Mars's original D/H ratio as estimated by deconvolving the atmospheric and magmatic D/H components in Martian meteorites (e.g., QUE 94201), is ×(1.9+/-0.25) the VSMOW value.
The higher D/H and impact modeling (significantly different from Earth
due to Mars's smaller mass) favor a model where Mars accreted a total of
6% to 27% the mass of the current Earth hydrosphere, corresponding
respectively to an original D/H between ×1.6 and ×1.2 the SMOW value.
The former enhancement is consistent with roughly equal asteroidal and
cometary contributions, while the latter would indicate mostly
asteroidal contributions.
The corresponding WEG would be 0.6–2.7 km (0.37–1.68 mi), consistent
with a 50% outgassing efficiency to yield ~500 m (1,600 ft) WEG of
surface water.
Comparing the current atmospheric D/H ratio of ×5.5 SMOW ratio with the
primordial ×1.6 SMOW ratio suggests that ~50 m (160 ft) of has been
lost to space via solar wind stripping.
The cometary and asteroidal delivery of water to accreting Earth
and Mars has significant caveats, even though it is favored by D/H
isotopic ratios. Key issues include:
The higher D/H ratios in Martian meteorites could be a
consequence of biased sampling since Mars may have never had an
effective crustal recycling process
Earth's Primitive upper mantle estimate of the 187Os/188Os
isotopic ratio exceeds 0.129, significantly greater than that of
carbonaceous chondrites, but similar to anhydrous ordinary chondrites.
This makes it unlikely that planetary embryos compositionally similar to
carbonaceous chondrites supplied water to Earth
Earth's atmospheric content of Ne is significantly higher than would be expected had all the rare gases and H2O been accreted from planetary embryos with carbonaceous chondritic compositions.
An alternative to the cometary and asteroidal delivery of H2O would be the accretion via physisorption during the formation of the terrestrial planets in the solar nebula. This would be consistent with the thermodynamic estimate of around two Earth masses of water vapor
within 3AU of the solar accretionary disk, which would exceed by a
factor of 40 the mass of water needed to accrete the equivalent of 50
Earth hydrospheres (the most extreme estimate of Earth's bulk H2O content) per terrestrial planet. Even though much of the nebular H2O(g) may be lost due to the high temperature environment of the accretionary disk, it is possible for physisorption of H2O on accreting grains to retain nearly three Earth hydrospheres of H2O at 500 K (227 °C; 440 °F) temperatures. This adsorption model would effectively avoid the 187Os/188Os isotopic ratio disparity issue of distally-sourced H2O.
However, the current best estimate of the nebular D/H ratio
spectroscopically estimated with Jovian and Saturnian atmospheric CH4 is only 2.1×10−5, a factor of 8 lower than Earth's VSMOW ratio. It is unclear how such a difference could exist, if physisorption were indeed the dominant form of H2O accretion for Earth in particular and the terrestrial planets in general.
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 OSIRIS-REx
illustrate the challenges of collecting ore from space using current
technology. As of 2024, around 127 grams of asteroid material has been
successfully returned to Earth from space. Asteroid research missions are complex endeavors and return a tiny amount of material (less than 100 milligrams Hayabusa, 5.4 grams Hayabusa2, ~121.6 grams OSIRIS-REx) relative to the size and expense of these projects ($300 million Hayabusa, $800 million Hayabusa2, $1.16 billion OSIRIS-REx).
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 have evolved 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 1970s
In 1969, the Apollo 11
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.
The 1980s
Academic
interest in asteroid mining continued into the 1980s. The idea of
targeting the Apollo and Amor asteroid groups still had some popularity.
However, by the late 1980s the interest in the Apollo and Amor asteroid
groups was being replaced with interest in the moons of Mars, Phobos
and Deimos.
Organizations like NASA begin to formulate ideas of how to process materials in space and what to do with the materials that are hypothetically gathered from space.
The 1990s
New reasons emerge for pursuing asteroid mining. These reasons tend
to revolve around environmental concerns, such as fears over humans
over-consuming the Earth's natural resources and trying to capture energy from the Sun in space.
In the same decade, NASA was trying to establish what materials
in asteroids could be valuable for extraction. These materials included
free-metals, volatiles, and bulk dirt.
The 2010s
After
a burst of interest in the 2010s, asteroid mining ambitions shifted to
more distant long-term goals and some 'asteroid mining' companies have
pivoted to more general-purpose propulsion technology.
The 2020s
The
2020s have brought a resurgence of interest, with companies from the
United States, Europe, and China renewing their efforts in this
ambitious venture. This revival is fueled by a new era of commercial
space exploration, significantly driven by SpaceX. Founded by Elon Musk,
SpaceX's development of reusable rocket boosters has substantially
lowered the cost of space access, reigniting interest and investment in
asteroid mining. Even a congressional committee acknowledged this
renewed interest by holding a hearing on the topic in December 2023 There are also endeavors to make first-time landings on M-type asteroids to mine metals like Iridium
which sells for many thousands per ounce. Private company driven
efforts have also given rise to a new culture of secrecy obfuscating
which asteroids are identified and targeted for mining missions, whereas
previously government-led asteroid research and exploration operated
with more transparency.
Minerals in space
As resource depletion on Earth becomes more of a concern, the idea of extracting valuable elements from asteroids and returning them 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, rhenium, 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).
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 trojan617 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.
From the astrobiological perspective, asteroid prospecting could provide scientific data for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
Some astrophysicists have suggested that if advanced extraterrestrial
civilizations employed asteroid mining long ago, the hallmarks of these
activities might be detectable.
An important factor to consider in target selection is orbital economics, in particular the change in velocity (Δv) and travel time to and from the target. More of the extracted native material must be expended as propellant in higher Δv 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 Δv requirements.
The Easily Recoverable Object (ERO) subclass of Near-Earth asteroids are considered likely candidates for early mining activity. Their low Δv
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 Δv 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 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.
Multiple types of asteroids have been identified but the three
main types would include the C-type, S-type, and M-type asteroids:
C-type asteroids
have a high abundance of water which is not currently of use for mining
but could be used in an exploration effort beyond the asteroid. Mission
costs could be reduced by using the available water from the asteroid.
C-type asteroids also have high amounts of organic carbon, phosphorus, and other key ingredients for fertilizer which could be used to grow food.
S-type asteroids
carry little water but are more attractive because they contain
numerous metals, including nickel, cobalt, and more valuable metals,
such as gold, platinum, and rhodium. A small 10-meter S-type asteroid
contains about 650,000 kg (1,433,000 lb) of metal with 50 kg (110 lb) in
the form of rare metals like platinum and gold.
M-type asteroids are rare but contain up to 10 times more metal than S-types.
A class of "easily retrievable objects" (EROs) was identified by a
group of researchers in 2013. Twelve asteroids made up the initially
identified group, all of which could be potentially mined with
present-day rocket technology. Of 9,000 asteroids searched in the NEO database, these twelve could all be brought into an Earth-accessible orbit by changing their velocity
by less than 500 meters per second (1,800 km/h; 1,100 mph). The dozen
asteroids range in size from 2 to 20 meters (10 to 70 ft).
The B612 Foundation is a private nonprofitfoundation 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.
Process asteroidal material on-site to bring back only processed materials, and perhaps produce propellant for the return trip.
Transport the asteroid to a safe orbit around the Moon or Earth or to a space station. 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.
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,
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.
Mining projects
On April 24, 2012 at the Seattle, Washington Museum of Flight, a plan was announced by billionaire entrepreneurs to mine asteroids for their resources. The company was called Planetary Resources and its founders included aerospace entrepreneurs Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis.
The company announced plans to create a propellant depot in space by
2020; splitting water from asteroids into hydrogen and oxygen to
replenish satellites and spacecraft. Advisers included film director and
explorer James Cameron; investors included Google's chief executive Larry Page, and its executive chairman was Eric Schmidt. Telescope technology proposed to identify and examine candidate
asteroids lead to development of the Arkyd family of spacecraft; two
prototypes of which were flown in 2015 and 2018.
Shortly after, all plans for the Arkyd space telescope technology were
abandoned; the company was wound down, its hardware auctioned off, and remaining assets acquired by ConsenSys, a blockchain company.
A year after the appearance of Planetary Resources, similar asteroid mining plans were announced in 2013 by Deep Space Industries; a company established by David Gump, Rick Tumlinson, and others. The initial goal was to visit asteroids with prospecting and sample return spacecraft in 2015 and 2016; and begin mining within ten years.
Deep Space Industries later pivoted to developing & selling the
propulsion systems that would enable its envisioned asteroid operations,
including a successful line of water-propellant thrusters in 2018; and in 2019 was acquired by Bradford Space, a company with a portfolio of earth orbit systems and space flight components.
Proposed mining projects
At ISDC-San Diego 2013,
Kepler Energy and Space Engineering (KESE, llc) announced its intention
to send an automated mining system to collect 40 tons of asteroid regolith and return to low Earth orbit by 2020.
In September 2012, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) announced the Robotic Asteroid Prospector project, which would examine and evaluate the feasibility of asteroid mining in terms of means, methods, and systems.
The TransAstra Corporation develops technology to locate and
harvest asteroids using a family of spacecraft built around a patented
approach using concentrated solar energy known as optical mining.
In 2022, a startup called AstroForge
announced intentions to develop technologies & spacecraft for
prospecting, mining, and refining platinum from near-earth asteroids.
Economics
Currently, the quality of the ore
and the consequent cost and mass of equipment required to extract it
are unknown and can only be speculated on. Some economic analyses
indicate that the cost of returning asteroidal materials to Earth far
outweighs their market value, and that asteroid mining will not attract
private investment at current commodity prices and space transportation
costs. Other studies suggest large profit by using solar power.
Potential markets for materials can be identified and profit generated
if extraction cost is brought down. For example, the delivery of
multiple tonnes of water to low Earth orbit for rocket fuel preparation for space tourism could generate significant profit if space tourism itself proves profitable.
In 1997, it was speculated that a relatively small metallic
asteroid with a diameter of 1.6 km (1 mi) contains more than US$20
trillion worth of industrial and precious metals. A comparatively small M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 1 km (0.62 mi) could contain more than two billion metric tons of iron–nickel ore, or two to three times the world production of 2004. The asteroid 16 Psyche is believed to contain 1.7×1019 kg
of nickel–iron, which could supply the world production requirement for
several million years. A small portion of the extracted material would
also be precious metals.
Not all mined materials from asteroids would be cost-effective,
especially for the potential return of economic amounts of material to
Earth. For potential return to Earth, platinum
is considered very rare in terrestrial geologic formations and
therefore is potentially worth bringing some quantity for terrestrial
use. Nickel, on the other hand, is quite abundant on Earth and being
mined in many terrestrial locations, so the high cost of asteroid mining
may not make it economically viable.
Although Planetary Resources indicated in 2012 that the platinum from a 30-meter-long (98 ft) asteroid could be worth US$25–50 billion,
an economist remarked any outside source of precious metals could lower
prices sufficiently to possibly doom the venture by rapidly increasing
the available supply of such metals.
Development of an infrastructure for altering asteroid orbits could offer a large return on investment.
Scarcity is a fundamental economic problem of humans having seemingly unlimited wants in a world of limited resources.
Since Earth's resources are finite, the relative abundance of
asteroidal ore gives asteroid mining the potential to provide nearly
unlimited resources, which could essentially eliminate scarcity for those materials.
The idea of exhausting resources is not new. In 1798, Thomas Malthus wrote, because resources are ultimately limited, the exponential growth in a population would result in falls in income per capita until poverty and starvation would result as a constricting factor on population. Malthus posited this 226 years ago, and no sign has yet emerged of the Malthus effect regarding raw materials.
Proven reserves
are deposits of mineral resources that are already discovered and known
to be economically extractable under present or similar demand, price
and other economic and technological conditions.
Conditional reserves are discovered deposits that are not yet economically viable.
Indicated reserves are less intensively measured deposits whose data
is derived from surveys and geological projections. Hypothetical
reserves and speculative resources make up this group of reserves.
Inferred reserves are deposits that have been located but not yet exploited.
Continued development in asteroid mining techniques and technology may help to increase mineral discoveries.
As the cost of extracting mineral resources, especially platinum group
metals, on Earth rises, the cost of extracting the same resources from
celestial bodies declines due to technological innovations around space
exploration.
As of September 2016, there are 711 known asteroids with a value exceeding US$100 trillion each.
Financial feasibility
Space
ventures are high-risk, with long lead times and heavy capital
investment, and that is no different for asteroid-mining projects. These
types of ventures could be funded through private investment or through
government investment. For a commercial venture, it can be profitable
as long as the revenue earned is greater than total costs (costs for
extraction and costs for marketing). The costs involving an asteroid-mining venture were estimated to be around US$100 billion in 1996.
There are six categories of cost considered for an asteroid mining venture:
Research and development costs
Exploration and prospecting costs
Construction and infrastructure development costs
Operational and engineering costs
Environmental costs
Time cost
Determining financial feasibility is best represented through net present value. One requirement needed for financial feasibility is a high return on investment estimating around 30%.
Example calculation assumes for simplicity that the only valuable
material on asteroids is platinum. On August 16, 2016, platinum was
valued at $1157 per ounce
or $37,000 per kilogram. At a price of $1,340, for a 10% return on
investment, 173,400 kg (5,575,000 ozt) of platinum would have to be
extracted for every 1,155,000 tons of asteroid ore. For a 50% return on
investment 1,703,000 kg (54,750,000 ozt) of platinum would have to be
extracted for every 11,350,000 tons of asteroid ore. This analysis
assumes that doubling the supply of platinum to the market (5.13 million
ounces in 2014) would have no effect on the price of platinum. A more
realistic assumption is that increasing the supply by this amount would
reduce the price 30–50%.
The financial feasibility of asteroid mining with regards to different technical parameters has been presented by Sonter and more recently by Hein et al.
Hein et al.
have specifically explored the case where platinum is brought from
space to Earth and estimate that economically viable asteroid mining for
this specific case would be rather challenging.
Decreases in the price of space access matter. The start of operational use of the low-cost-per-kilogram-in-orbit SpacexFalcon Heavy
launch vehicle in 2018 is projected by astronomer Martin Elvis to have
increased the extent of economically minable near-Earth asteroids from
hundreds to thousands. With the increased availability of several
kilometers per second of delta-v that Falcon Heavy provides, it increases the number of NEAs accessible from 3 percent to around 45 percent.
Precedent for joint investment by multiple parties into a
long-term venture to mine commodities may be found in the legal concept
of a mining partnership, which exists in the state laws of multiple US
states including California. In a mining partnership, "[Each] member of a
mining partnership shares in the profits and losses thereof in the
proportion which the interest or share he or she owns in the mine bears
to the whole partnership capital or whole number of shares."
Since Mars is much closer to the asteroid belt than Earth is, it would take less Delta-v to get to the asteroid belt and return minerals to Mars. One hypothesis is that the origin of the Moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos) are actually asteroid captures from the asteroid belt. 16 Psyche in the main belt could have over $10,000 QuadrillionUnited States dollar worth of minerals. NASA is planning a mission for October 10, 2023 for the Psyche orbiter to launch and get to the asteroid by August 2029 to study. 511 Davida could have $27 quadrillion worth of minerals and resources.
Using the moon Phobos to launch spacecraft is energetically favorable
and a useful location from which to dispatch missions to main belt
asteroids. Mining the asteroid belt from Mars and its moons could help in the Colonization of Mars.
Phobos is synchronously orbiting Mars, where the same face stays facing the planet at ~6,028 km above the Martian surface. A space elevator could extend from Phobos to Mars 6,000 km, about 28 kilometers from the surface, and just out of the atmosphere of Mars. A similar space elevator cable could extend out 6,000 km the opposite direction that would counterbalance Phobos. In total the space elevator would extend over 12,000 km which would be below Areostationary orbit
of Mars (17,032 km). A rocket launch would be needed to get the rocket
and cargo to the beginning of the space elevator 28 km above the
surface. The surface of Mars is rotating at 0.25 km/s at the equator and the bottom of the space elevator would be rotating around Mars at 0.77 km/s, so only 0.52 km/s of Delta-v
would be needed to get to the space elevator. Phobos orbits at
2.15 km/s and the outer most part of the space elevator would rotate
around Mars at 3.52 km/s.
Space law involves a specific set of international treaties, along with national statutory laws. The system and framework for international and domestic laws have emerged in part through the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.
The rules, terms and agreements that space law authorities consider to
be part of the active body of international space law are the five
international space treaties and five UN declarations. Approximately 100
nations and institutions were involved in negotiations. The space
treaties cover many major issues such as arms control, non-appropriation
of space, freedom of exploration, liability for damages, safety and
rescue of astronauts and spacecraft, prevention of harmful interference
with space activities and the environment, notification and registration
of space activities, and the settlement of disputes. In exchange for
assurances from the space power, the nonspacefaring nations acquiesced
to U.S. and Soviet proposals to treat outer space as a commons (res
communis) territory which belonged to no one state.
Asteroid mining in particular is covered by both international treaties—for example, the Outer Space Treaty—and national statutory laws—for example, specific legislative acts in the United States and Luxembourg.
Varying degrees of criticism exist regarding international space
law. Some critics accept the Outer Space Treaty, but reject the Moon
Agreement. The Outer Space Treaty allows private property rights for
outer space natural resources once removed from the surface, subsurface
or subsoil of the Moon and other celestial bodies in outer space.
Thus, international space law is capable of managing newly emerging
space mining activities, private space transportation, commercial
spaceports and commercial space stations, habitats and settlements.
Space mining involving the extraction and removal of natural resources
from their natural location is allowable under the Outer Space Treaty. Once removed, those natural resources can be reduced to possession, sold,
traded and explored or used for scientific purposes. International
space law allows space mining, specifically the extraction of natural
resources. It is generally understood within the space law authorities
that extracting space resources is allowable, even by private companies
for profit. However, international space law prohibits property rights over territories and outer space land.
Astrophysicists Carl Sagan and Steven J. Ostro raised the concern altering the trajectories of asteroids
near Earth might pose a collision hazard threat. They concluded that
orbit engineering has both opportunities and dangers: if controls
instituted on orbit-manipulation technology were too tight, future
spacefaring could be hampered, but if they were too loose, human
civilization would be at risk.
The Outer Space Treaty
Outer Space Treaty:
Parties
Signatories
Non-parties
After ten years of negotiations between nearly 100 nations, the Outer
Space Treaty opened for signature on January 27, 1966. It entered into
force as the constitution for outer space on October 10, 1967. The Outer
Space Treaty was well received; it was ratified by ninety-six nations
and signed by an additional twenty-seven states. The outcome has been
that the basic foundation of international space law consists of five
(arguably four) international space treaties, along with various written
resolutions and declarations. The main international treaty is the
Outer Space Treaty of 1967; it is generally viewed as the "Constitution"
for outer space. By ratifying the Outer Space Treaty of 1967,
ninety-eight nations agreed that outer space would belong to the
"province of mankind", that all nations would have the freedom to "use"
and "explore" outer space, and that both these provisions must be done
in a way to "benefit all mankind".
The province of mankind principle and the other key terms have
not yet been specifically defined (Jasentuliyana, 1992). Critics have
complained that the Outer Space Treaty is vague. Yet, international
space law has worked well and has served space commercial industries and
interests for many decades. The taking away and extraction of Moon
rocks, for example, has been treated as being legally permissible.
The framers of Outer Space Treaty initially focused on
solidifying broad terms first, with the intent to create more specific
legal provisions later (Griffin, 1981: 733–734). This is why the members
of the COPUOS later expanded the Outer Space Treaty norms by
articulating more specific understandings which are found in the "three
supplemental agreements" – the Rescue and Return Agreement of 1968, the
Liability Convention of 1973, and the Registration Convention of 1976
(734).
Hobe (2007) explains that the Outer Space Treaty "explicitly and
implicitly prohibits only the acquisition of territorial property
rights" but extracting space resources is allowable. It is generally
understood within the space law authorities that extracting space
resources is allowable, even by private companies for profit. However,
international space law prohibits property rights over territories and
outer space land. Hobe further explains that there is no mention of “the
question of the extraction of natural resources which means that such
use is allowed under the Outer Space Treaty” (2007: 211). He also points
out that there is an unsettled question regarding the division of
benefits from outer space resources in accordance with Article,
paragraph 1 of the Outer Space Treaty.
The Moon Agreement was signed on December 18, 1979, as part of the United Nations Charter
and it entered into force in 1984 after a five state ratification
consensus procedure, agreed upon by the members of the United Nations
Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). As of September 2019, only 18 nations have signed or ratified the treaty.
The other three outer space treaties experienced a high level of
international cooperation in terms of signage and ratification, but the
Moon Treaty went further than them, by defining the Common Heritage
concept in more detail and by imposing specific obligations on the
parties engaged in the exploration and/or exploitation of outer space.
The Moon Treaty explicitly designates the Moon and its natural resources
as part of the Common Heritage of Mankind.
The Article 11 establishes that lunar resources are "not subject
to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or
occupation, or by any other means".
However, exploitation of resources is suggested to be allowed if it is
"governed by an international regime" (Article 11.5), but the rules of
such regime have not yet been established.
S. Neil Hosenball, the NASA General Counsel and chief US negotiator for
the Moon Treaty, cautioned in 2018 that negotiation of the rules of the
international regime should be delayed until the feasibility of
exploitation of lunar resources has been established.
The objection to the treaty by the spacefaring nations is held to
be the requirement that extracted resources (and the technology used to
that end) must be shared with other nations. The similar regime in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is believed to impede the development of such industries on the seabed.
The United States, the Russian Federation, and the People's
Republic of China (PRC) have neither signed, acceded to, nor ratified
the Moon Agreement.
Legal regimes of some countries
Luxembourg
In February 2016, the Government of Luxembourg
said that it would attempt to "jump-start an industrial sector to mine
asteroid resources in space" by, among other things, creating a "legal
framework" and regulatory incentives for companies involved in the
industry. By June 2016, it announced that it would "invest more than US$200 million in research, technology demonstration, and in the direct purchase of equity in companies relocating to Luxembourg". In 2017, it became the "first European country to pass a law
conferring to companies the ownership of any resources they extract
from space", and remained active in advancing space resource public policy in 2018.
In 2017, Japan, Portugal, and the UAE entered into cooperation agreements with Luxembourg for mining operations in celestial bodies.
In 2018, the Luxembourg Space Agency was created. It provides private companies and organizations working on asteroid mining with financial support.
United States
Some
nations are beginning to promulgate legal regimes for extraterrestrial
resource extraction. For example, the United States "SPACE Act of 2015"—facilitating private development of space resources consistent with US international treaty obligations—passed the US House of Representatives in July 2015.In November 2015 it passed the United States Senate. On 25 November U.S. President Barack Obama signed the H.R.2262 – U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act into law.
The law recognizes the right of U.S. citizens to own space resources
they obtain and encourages the commercial exploration and use of
resources from asteroids. According to the article § 51303 of the law:
A United States citizen engaged in
commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource under
this chapter shall be entitled to any asteroid resource or space
resource obtained, including to possess, own, transport, use, and sell
the asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with
applicable law, including the international obligations of the United
States
On 6 April 2020 U.S. President Donald Trump
signed the Executive Order on Encouraging International Support for the
Recovery and Use of Space Resources. According to the Order:
Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space
the US does not view space as a "global commons"
the US opposes the Moon Agreement
Environmental impact
A
positive impact of asteroid mining has been conjectured as being an
enabler of transferring industrial activities into space, such as energy
generation.
A quantitative analysis of the potential environmental benefits of
water and platinum mining in space has been developed, where potentially
large benefits could materialize, depending on the ratio of material
mined in space and mass launched into space.
Research missions to asteroids and comets
Proposed or cancelled
Near Earth Asteroid Prospector – concept for a small commercial spacecraft mission by the private company SpaceDev; the project ran into fundraising difficulties and was subsequently cancelled.
An astronaut mining an asteroid using a hand drill in the video game Space Engineers.
The first mention of asteroid mining in science fiction apparently came in Garrett P. Serviss' story Edison's Conquest of Mars, published in the New York Evening Journal in 1898. Several science-fiction video games include asteroid mining.
Astronauts and other spaceflight participants
have observed their religions while in space; sometimes publicly,
sometimes privately. Religious adherence in outer space poses unique
challenges and opportunities for practitioners. Space travelers have
reported profound changes in the way they view their faith related to
the overview effect, while some secular groups have criticized the use of government spacecraft for religious activities by astronauts.
ISS crew with festive Christmas hats aboard the Zvezda service module of ISS in 2009.Christmas morning in Node 3 in 2010.
Protestantism
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, a Presbyterian, performed a communion service for himself using a kit provided by his church. Aldrin had told flight director Chris Kraft of his plans and intended to broadcast the service back to Earth but opted not to at the request of Deke Slayton, due to the continuing controversy over Apollo 8's reading.
A microfilm Bible that had been to the surface of the Moon was auctioned off in 2011. It was a King James Version created after three astronauts lost their lives in the Apollo 1 fire. Ed White, one of the astronauts who perished, had wanted to take a Bible to the Moon.
Several members of the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy mission STS-51-L were people of faith. Among them were Commander Dick Scobee and Pilot Michael J. Smith. Scobee was a Baptist who met his wife June at a church social event. After the tragedy, she would go on to write an article in Guidepost Magazine
about how their faith helped her through the tragic time. Smith and
his family attended a non-denominational Christian church in a community
close to their home near Houston's NASA JSC Space Center.
Rick Husband, the Commander of the ill-fated STS-107Columbia
tragedy mission, was also a devout Christian. On the last-request forms
that astronauts fill out before every flight, he left his pastor a
personal note: "Tell them about Jesus; he's real to me." Later his wife
Evelyn wrote a book about their life with him as an astronaut and the
importance of their Christian faith entitled High Calling: The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband(Audiobook). Likewise, his STS-107 crewmate Michael P. Anderson was also a devout Christian and when not on a mission for NASA, was an active member of the Grace Community Church choir.
Catholicism
A signed message from Pope Paul VI was included among statements from dozens of other world leaders left on the Moon on a silicon disk during the Apollo 11 mission. Following the mission, William Donald Borders, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando, told the Pope that the 1917 Code of Canon Law
placed the Moon within his diocese, as the first explorers had departed
from Cape Kennedy which was under his jurisdiction. The claim was
neither confirmed nor denied by the Pope, and the Moon is not recognized
as part of the diocese in any official capacity.
The Blessed Sacrament
(the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental
bread and wine) has been carried into space at least twice. Three Catholic astronauts on Space Shuttle mission STS-59 received Holy Communion on 17 April 1994. NASA astronaut Michael S. Hopkins took a supply of six consecrated hosts to the International Space Station in September 2013, allowing him to receive the Eucharist weekly during his 24-week mission.
A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz rocket for ISS Expedition 31
Russian Orthodox Christmas was celebrated on the International Space Station, on January 7, 2011. Cosmonauts had the day off, but one of the other crew posted on Twitter, "Merry Christmas to all Russia." The whole crew also celebrated on December 25, two weeks prior.
Cosmonauts sometimes at the request of Russian Orthodox church
carry religious icons to space, which upon return to Earth are
distributed to churches.
Islam
Muslims
in space struggle with fulfilling their religious obligations including
kneeling and facing Mecca to pray in microgravity traveling at several
kilometres per second. The issue first came up when Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a Saudi prince, flew aboard STS-51-G and again when Anousheh Ansari flew as a tourist to the International Space Station. In preparation for Malaysian Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's trip to the ISS in 2007, the National Fatwa Council
created "Muslim Obligations in the International Space Station"
outlining permissible modifications to rituals such as kneeling when
praying (not required in space), facing Mecca (or just Earth) when praying (left to the astronaut's best abilities at the start of prayer), and washing (a wet towel will suffice).
In February 2014, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) from Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa forbidding devout Muslims from participating as crew members in Mars One's proposed one-way mission to Mars.
Speaking for the clerical group, Farooq Hamada explained that,
"Protecting life against all possible dangers and keeping it safe is an
issue agreed upon by all religions and is clearly stipulated in verse
4/29 of the Holy Quran: Do not kill yourselves or one another. Indeed,
Allah is to you ever Merciful."
American astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman took multiple Jewish objects to space on his space flights from 1985 to 1996: a miniature Torah scroll, a yad, a Torah breastplate, mezuzot, menorahs, a dreidel, hand-woven tallit, and kiddush cups.
