A privately-built spacecraft has embarked on an unprecedented deep space mission to scout out an asteroid’s potential for mining.
The probe, called Odin, was launched on a SpaceX rocket alongside a robotic moon lander that will drill for water and a lunar orbiter that will map water resources with an instrument built by the University of Oxford.
The asteroid mission is a high-risk venture that heralds a new dawn of commercial exploitation of our celestial neighbours.
Odin is destined for asteroid 2022 OB5 that’s believed to be rich in platinum and similar metals, which are critical for electronic, medical and green technology.
Matt Gialich, engineer and co-founder of startup AstroForge, told Sky News that mining the metals on Earth costs $900 an ounce (£25,000 per kg).
“The problem is that on Earth we have mined all of the good sources of platinum group metals,” he said.
“Everything we’re looking at now is thousands of meters under the Earth. It’s actually very, very difficult to mine.
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“But we know this exists in space. We know it’s readily available. For our mission, instead of going down, we want to go up.”
Odin will take 300 days to catch up with the asteroid one million miles from Earth. It will take close-up images of the surface to confirm it is metallic.
The company then plans to land a second spacecraft on the asteroid later this year and test for platinum and other elements.
If the asteroid is as rich in the metals as hoped the first mining expeditions could follow.
AstroForge has developed a low-energy refining technique that it says can produce 1000kg of high-quality metal in three months. The precious cargo would then be returned to Earth.
“The cost of space has gotten so much cheaper than it’s ever been,” said Mr Gialich.
“The economics are starting to make a lot of sense. We can build and launch a really low-cost spacecraft to go take a stab at it.”
Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London have analysed the composition of meteorites that have fallen to Earth. Some have the weight and look of lumps of metal.
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Professor Sara Russell, an expert in cosmic mineralogy at the museum, told Sky News: “Metallic asteroids are rarer than stoney ones.
“But they make up quite a substantial part of our collection, so we know they are out there in space.
“We know they are incredibly rich in elements like platinum, cobalt and nickel. They are a fantastic resource for many metals.”
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Mr Gialich said the time was right for rethinking the way humanity mines the resources that drive the economy.
“The way we mine today is one of the most damaging processes on Earth, right?!” he said.
“We are destroying our planet to allow us to live in the way we live. Asteroid mining opens up a new gate to maintain our way of life, cost free.”
