TIL Space Mining is Now Legal and Google has financed a Business for it!
Today I learned that for the last year US individuals and companies can legally mine, keep and use materials from the moon and asteroids. There are already companies that exist for space mining, including Planetary Resources which has been gotten financial backing to research and implement this. Some of this was spurred by an asteroid with a platinum core worth trillions passing near our planet.
Prior to the Space Act of 2015 'outer space' was treated like international waters in which no single country, company or individual could lay claim to property, but rather was a shared Earth resource. I was shocked that I hadn't heard more about this over the last year, especially since the law only applied to America and not the rest of the world.
Image Sources:
Asteroid Mining
Just need to find a planet with all of that "spice" people are making such a big deal about.
Haha! It's really just a move for all humans to finally have blue glowing eyes!! :P
Maybe if we launch a space ship and just keep heading 'west,' we'll find the 'spice isles!' Rofl
I would love to put some money into a blockchain based company that would pursue this. I never liked traditional investment models - too many rules and too much bureaucracy. I'm surprised nobody has done this yet with a blockchain based token.
That'd be a great idea! I'm with ya, surprised that it's not already been started...who wouldn't want a space or 'warp' coin! Lol. My one big concern is that they don't accidentally run an asteroid into the earth (or moon,) but there is no doubt there is money to be made out there. I'm still very curious how the international community will react once they see dollars actually hitting bank accounts from it.
It's hard to say. It is possible that if there is a sudden influx of rare earth metals (which I suspect will be the first minerals that are pursued) it could result in a crash in the price of those metals. One the other hand right now it could be argued that new technologies are in part being held back by the lack of supply so it might just balance out and accelerate progress too.
Very true! That's more of what I foresee being sought after too, the rare earth metals. I've heard a ton over the last 10 years on how China controls like 80% of all those resources and been buying more up in Africa (building infrastructure in return.)
If they suddenly mined trillions in platinum (or gold) that could cause some 'interesting havoc' on the economic ends of things.
Yes initially I think a fall in price (if not a crash) is very likely but I think long term it will balance out for sure.
A large quantity of such metals would open up all sorts of technologies that are being held back right now. To be honest it is hard to know the full impact. It's not just about electronics either.
Platinum itself has a lot of applications in industrial chemistry I think too, also it has certain properties that make it useful in medical applications.
We might see the initial fall ollowed by an increased demand as a result of this sort of thing. It is definitely exciting and I would love to have some kind of "finger in that pie" to use an old colloquialism. I suspect it will make a lot of people rich.
In my childish mind it is my dream that if I ever make it to being a billionaire I will spend the rest of my life trying to eradicate preventable diseases like waterborne viruses that aren't glamorous but kill about 3.4 million people every year.
One can always dream of changing the world I suppose:)
Of course, who else than Google (Musk?) could go there and make money out of it? You need some budget to setup the thing...
It would be amazing though wouldn't it? I would love to have a piece of that pie.
Me too actually, but I am not sure any bank would follow me (crypto?) ;)
Hehe, very true. For planetary resources it looked like they were using earth/resource mapping projects for the short term earning potential, with the asteroid mining be the next extension they are working on. I'd love to see Musk go up there, maybe even Richard Branson (private space mining tours, lol)
I did see one other company working on this called Deep Space Industries but I couldn't find where their financial backing came from.
I'm waiting to see someone bring back the 'orion' marble from Men in Black and start a whole new jewelry trend, lol
Men in Black... Now I am feeling old again ^^
This is fascinating; thanks, @sykochica.
I find it simultaneously amusing and infuriating that the pretenders who run planetary governments feel they have any say whatsoever about who does what in space. They have, so far, royally screwed things up here on earth; now they want to make pronouncements about the rest of the universe?
Personally, I've had my eye on asteroid 87 Sylvia for many years. It is substantial, 8th largest in the belt, having two moons of its own.
Because its density is known to be very low, I believe it may be honeycombed with a vast network of caverns to explore. Who knows what adventure and mineral wealth may await there? :) :) :)
Once personally owned space transport has been developed (and I believe it eventually will be) there will be not a frickin' thing that planetary governments will be able to do to control and regulate space activity.
This post has been ranked within the top 80 most undervalued posts in the second half of Nov 17. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $5.79 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Nov 17 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.