Asteroid mining has a future according to a paper that examines the economics of using asteroids as sources of useful ores.
Asteroid mining is one of those topics that sounds like it’s straight out of science fiction. But, in recent years, with the growth of lower-cost launch options, mining space rocks could become downright economical. As an added plus, getting important resources from asteroids could help drive the switchover to clean environmental practices and technologies right here on Earth.
They analyzed the most relevant factors and used a Ramsay growth model to look at cost savings and investment dynamics involved with a transition from Earth-based to space mining. That model outlines a steady economic growth rate in terms of labor, capital, and technology. For space-based mining, labor is an open question, since such activities probably would be mostly robotic. Investment capital probably isn’t a problem, but the development of such technology has challenges.
Leaving aside questions of “Who benefits?” and “Should we worry about the environmental damage to asteroids and near-Earth space?”, mining asteroids does present an interesting and profitable challenge.’ just floating around out there, and they appear to be rich in many ores. Of course, there are challenges to getting those ores. First, miners have to get to the asteroids. Or, we need to build robotic mining operations that work on asteroids in the harsh environment of space.
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