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On Oct. 13 , 2023,NASAlaunched amission to 16 Psyche , a large , alloy - rich asteroid about six years by , to pick up more about how planetary interiors form .
The asteroid has a jaw - droppingestimated monetary value : $ 100,000 quadrillion . That ’s because 16 Psyche is a literal gold mine , packed with uncommon elements of the essence to cars and electronics , like platinum and palladium .
This artist’s concept depicts the 140-mile-wide (226-kilometer-wide) asteroid Psyche, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
To explore — and perhaps adjudicate — quad , we ’ll require extraterrestrial sources of materials . company such as AstroForge and TransAstra are already looking into building mines onasteroidslike Psyche . But how nigh are we to mining them and draw their cosmic treasures ?
Technologically speaking , we ’re pretty close , saidPhilip Metzger , a planetary physicist at the University of Central Florida . The only difference between mining on an asteroid versus on Earth is the need for equipment that can withstand low - graveness , gamy - radiation conditions . The equipment also need to be able to serve autonomously — it could take 20 second or more for a radio wave with statement to gain an asteroid , especially if it ’s on the other side of the sun .
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Artist concept of the Psyche spacecraft, which will conduct a direct exploration of an asteroid thought to be a stripped planetary core.
All that technology has already been develop and prove in a science lab setting , but it ’s not quite quick for implementation , Metzger said . On NASA ’s Technology Readiness Levels scale , which ranges from 1 to 9 , our current equipment for place mining sits between a 3 and a 5 .
" The technology necessitate to be come on — about a 6 to 7 — before we ’re ready to start building a flight delegacy , " Metzger told Live Science . " What ’s lacking right now is fund . " If all that money poured in now , we might see pocket-sized - weighing machine asteroid minelaying in five years , Metzger added .
Any progress toward asteroid mining will likely come up from the secret sector , saidKevin Cannon , an assistant prof of geology and geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines ' Space Resources Program . But there ’s at least one potential obstacle : explaining to potential investor why we should mine asteroids in the first shoes .
It ’s a fair inquiry . Bringing materials back to Earth is " economically dubious , " Cannon told Live Science . It would be inordinately expensive to do so , and platinum radical metals are in reality pass up in price . But asteroids might be an important beginning of material for development in place , he add together .
" So , for exemplar , if we extracted water from [ a ] water - rich asteroid , we could split that apart into atomic number 1 and oxygen , and practice that as rocket propellant to refuel spacecraft , " Cannon said . Metals mined from asteroids , meanwhile , could be transformed into heavy structures in space .
Related:‘Stepping Harlan F. Stone to Mars ' : Minimoons may help oneself us become an interplanetary species , enunciate MIT astrophysicist Richard Binzel
That raises another question : Why not just minethe moon ? All of the materials we ’d desire to mine from asteroids also exist there , albeit in lower density . And , of course of instruction , it ’s much closer .
The benefit of the moonshine is , it ’s just days away , Cannon enjoin . " Even thesenear - Earth asteroidsthat mass talk about , if you study how long it takes to wait for the orbits [ between the asteroids and Earth ] to describe up , which you need to get back , it ’s many 100 of days . " Psyche , with its $ 100,000 quadrillion bounty , will take years to reach , with first contact figure to come in 2029 .
Even if we are n’t ready to mine asteroids , scientists are still concerned in exploring these space rocks . Less than a calendar month before the Psyche missionary work launched , NASA’sOSIRIS - REx spacecraft returnedfrom its mission to the asteroid Bennu , with samples in tow . In 2020 , the Nipponese spacecraft Hayabusa2 return withsamples from the asteroid Ryugu , before taking off to research two other asteroids : 2001 CC21 and 1998 KY26 . And in October , theEuropean Space Agencywill launch a mission to the asteroid Hera .
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None of these missions are focused explicitly on excavation . The research goal of both OSIRIS - REx and Hayabusa2 included developing a better savvy of ancient Earth ’s geology and chemistry , while Hera is investigatingplanetary defence technology .
" There ’s no magic technology that we have to invent to mine asteroids . We have the technology , " Cannon said . " It ’s a affair of having the will to do so and put the capital towards doing it . "
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