Today’s Source: https://www.astroforge.com/updates/firing-on-all-cylinders-announcing-40m-and-mission-3
Foundational Resource: (A general Wikipedia post detailing what the authors currently know about asteroid mining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining)
From the AstroForge website noted above: “From the day we started AstroForge, our goal has been the same – to unlock a cost-effective and sustainable mining solution that replenishes resources and safeguards our planet's future.”
I confess that this sounds like a rosy picture and some drastically serious advances. But are there any NAYsayers? These were a few questions asked by a member of the famous Reddit website:
“Back; r/science fiction icon; Go to science fiction; r/science fiction; 1 yr. ago [deleted]
“How do you think asteroid mining would work?
“How would a mining company offset the price of fuel for operating the machinery and spacecraft necessary for transportation of materials from the asteroid belt to Earth? “How long would miners be away from home?
“Would they drink the water from asteroids?
How much would be done by robots?
“These are a few of the many questions I can think of, I’d love to hear your thoughts!”
Here’s a link to a whole BUNCH of people who think mining asteroids is ridiculous: https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/17zs0z3/experts_and_entrepreneurs_explain_why_mining/
Yet Humanity has been mining for the 43,000 years: “The oldest-known mine on archaeological record is the Ngwenya Mine in Eswatini (Swaziland), which radiocarbon dating shows to be about 43,000 years old. At this site Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make the red pigment ochre. Mines of a similar age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons and tools.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining) That’s a few years. Granted, mining the ASTEROIDS is something we’ve never tried (though we have technically mined the Moon (small amounts, nevertheless, “bringing back Moon rocks” was technically the first space mining.) At the dawn of the mining age, MOVING rocks from one place to another was the initial first step of “mining” when “Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make…red pigment... Mines of a similar age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons and tools.”
Perhaps the steps AstroForge and others are taking are those initial primitive first steps.
Had those Paleolithic humans attempted to mine iron ore on the level of the great Iron Range Mines of Vermillion, Mesabi, and Cuyuna, they would have failed. By World War Two however: “…Minnesota's rich iron deposits were a vital component of America's war effort. About 70% of the iron ore that America devoted to the war came from Minnesota, amounting to more than 333 million tons, according to Pam Brunfelt, a retired Vermilion Community College faculty member and historian. ‘Without the Iron Range, we would not have won the war,’ said the Britt, Minn., native, who is writing a book about the phenomenon. ‘It was just the most astonishing accomplishment.’”
We haven’t really started mining the asteroids yet. Likely, we’re far from it. HOWEVER, as we deplete the ores easily available on the surface of the Earth and the environmental destruction caused by Earth-mining steadily mounts and the ridiculousness of the “environmentalists” who demand that we stop “raping the Earth” or “polluting the air” or destroying our future with “too much” CO2…all while DEMANDING that they have their cell phones, lithium-battery-powered cars (made at horrible Human cost by a mining procedure SO toxic is makes iron mining look like children playing in a sandbox), the COST of asteroid mining will seem paltry – IF you still want all of your electronic toys…
The skills that we’ve gained from decades in space, planetary landings, transporting (admittedly small) payloads of metal ore BACK to Earth for analysis, 26 years of constant occupation on the ISS (which STILL remains, despite immense odds!) an INTERNATIONAL Space Station; we continue to move toward mining asteroids.
Easy? Nope.
People gonna die? Yep (Today: “A cradle-to-gate attributional life-cycle assessment study…of a “gigafactory” for which “cobalt sulfate [from which “lithium-ion batteries” are “ produced in China, and the cobalt raw material is sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Potential health impacts from both emissions and occupational accidents…lead to…fatality rates in the artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC are considered: a high scenario at 2000 fatalities/year and a low scenario at 65 fatalities/year. The current main use of cobalt is in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which have become the dominant technology for rechargeable energy storage (OECD 2019).”
(https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-022-02084-3)
But do we need to do it? Yep.
Will we gain skills important to move Earth’s manufacturing OFF THE SURFACE TO SAVE THE SEA OTTERS? Yep.
We NEED to do it, so we WILL do it.
Noted Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth, https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_7fcd3ea5-3c14-533f-a8d5-9bf629922f34.html, https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/04/29/like-asteroid-mining-be-careful-what-you-wish-for/, https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/learn/historyculture/theroadtothefirstflight.htm, https://hackaday.com/2019/03/27/extraterrestrial-excavation-digging-holes-on-other-worlds/, https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/every-small-worlds-mission
And Now Some NEW NEWS: https://payloadspace.com/astroforge-picks-up-first-commercial-deep-space-license/
AstroForge YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXvm_l29o-Q
Image: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/A2D5/production/_114558614_hls-eva-apr2020.jpg
Interesting Stuff The Might Apply To Mining Asteroids: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgej7gzg8l0o
Interesting Stuff The Might Apply To Mining Asteroids: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgej7gzg8l0o
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