Environmental concerns could drive asteroid mining. The amount of environmental damage done on Earth could influence a shift from mining Earth resources to exploiting asteroid resources. 

Asteroid mining could reduce pressure on terrestrial resources and decrease associated environmental costs. However, it also risks: 

• Leaving space debris 
• Altering natural celestial bodies 
• Bringing back large quantities of materials to Earth that could contain hazardous substances, such as toxic metals or volatile organic compounds 

Mining procedures inflict environmental damage and pose risks to individuals near mining sites. The industry also contributes 4-7% of annual greenhouse gas emissions, playing a pivotal part in global warming. 

Asteroids in our solar system contain precious metals such as: Gold, Platinum, Cobalt, Palladium, Iron. 

Asteroid mining could be used to extract construction materials for near-Earth space-based facilities, greatly reducing the economic cost of transporting supplies into Earth orbit

First, eventually, there could well be a shift from mining Earth resources to exploiting asteroid resources. This will be influenced by the amount of environmental damage done here on the home planet. Second, there will need to be a pretty substantial investment in R&D for mining asteroids

Companies might want to mine asteroids for these reasons: 

• Water Water from asteroids could be used to sustain people in space, fill radiation shields, and create hydrogen for spacecraft fuel. 
• Metals Asteroids contain metals used in clean energy technologies. 
• Spacecraft Metal ore from asteroids could be used to build spacecraft and other structures for a space colony. 
• Solar power satellites Asteroid mining could provide an avenue for the creation of solar power satellites, a potentially consistent source of clean energy. 

Some companies that want to mine asteroids include: Karman+, TransAstra, AstroForge, Origin Space, Asteroid Mining Corporation

Asteroids contain many resources, including: 

• Metals: Iron, nickel, iridium, palladium, platinum, gold, and magnesium 
• Rare elements: Platinum, iridium, osmium, and palladium 
• Other elements: Phosphorus, antimony, zinc, tin, lead, indium, silver, and copper 
• Water: Tons of water could be used to fuel satellites and space exploration 

Asteroids contain higher concentrations of these resources than Earth. Some of these resources are used in products such as: Catalytic converters, Pacemakers, Medical implants. 

The market for these resources is valued in the trillions of dollars.

Some say that asteroid mining could become a reality within the next 20 years.  In January 2023, California-based startup AstroForge announced that it would be the first commercial company to mine an asteroid and bring the materials back to Earth. AstroForge planned to launch its first two missions to space in 2023. The first launch was scheduled for April 2023. 

Deep Space Industries planned to begin mining by 2023. However, in 2019, Deep Space Industries was acquired by Bradford Space. 

Asteroid mining is currently only viable as a long-term solution. The infrastructure and techniques needed to mine and refine asteroid resources are still being developed, making short term returns unlikely for mining companies.

Here are some asteroid mining projects: 

• Project RAMA NASA’s Project RAMA aims to use additive manufacturing, in-situ resource utilization, and in-situ manufacturing to improve asteroid redirect missions. 
• Optical mining NASA is working on “optical mining”, which involves bagging an asteroid and attaching a large array of mirrors to concentrate the sun’s power. 
• Planetary Resources This company is researching the technologies and strategies needed to make asteroid mining economical. 

Other asteroid mining projects include: 

• AstroForge’s first launch in April 2023, which will test their technique for refining platinum from a sample of asteroid-like material 
• A mission to a near-Earth asteroid, which would be shorter, involve less weight, and require a somewhat lower change in velocity

The first company to make a tangible effort to develop asteroid mining was Planetary Resources, a Seattle-based aerospace company. Planetary Resources was founded in 2012 by aerospace entrepreneurs Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis. The company’s goal was to mine asteroids for minerals, metals, water, and other valuables. 

Other companies that are working on asteroid mining include: 

• AstroForge A California-based startup that plans to break up asteroids and return valuable materials to Earth 
• TransAstra A California-based firm that aims to sustainably harvest resources from the moon and asteroids 
• NASA NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission collected a small amount of material from the asteroid Bennu 
• Japan Japan returned a sample of the asteroid Ryugu with the Hayabusa2 spacecraft

No one has ever mined an asteroid before. However, there is one asteroid that was mined on a commercial scale. The asteroid landed in Sudbury Ontario about 1.8 billion years ago. 

Asteroid mining is a highly speculative technique. The research and technology to successfully exploit these mineral resources is still under development. Challenges include: 

• The high cost of spaceflight 
• Unreliable identification of asteroids which are suitable for mining 
• The challenges of extracting usable material in a space environment 

The most likely method of asteroid mining would be to scrape desired material off the asteroid, and tunnel into veins of specific substances

Asteroid mining could use techniques similar to those used on Earth. These include: 

• Strip mining: Scraping desired material off the asteroid 
• Tunneling: Tunneling into veins of specific substances 
• Optical mining: Using sunlight, concentrated by mirrors, to extract water and other volatile materials 
• Robot spacecraft: Swarms of low-cost robot spacecraft crisscrossing an asteroid to extract its resources 

Other techniques include: 

• Heating up elements and separating them using gigantic mirrors to concentrate sunlight 
• Capturing small ice-rich objects for towing back to the vicinity of Earth for extraction of their water 

According to Planetary Resources Inc., each mission to mine an asteroid may cost only between about $50 million and $100 million in the near future. ( source google)

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