According to one astronomer, Falcon Heavy could create a significant increase in the number of asteroids suitable for mining. The value of these minerals is quite surprising, and they could also aid in human colonization efforts.
2020 Rationalist.org — Evolution Tree content
Space Miners
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy could only alleviate the 21st-century gold rush* if miners searched for valuable minerals and chemicals in space instead of heading west. Our solar system is full of rocky worlds, or millions of asteroids, ranging in size from a few feet to hundreds of kilometers in diameter. For over a century, people have considered combining asteroid mining with exploration, but a major hurdle has been encountered: reaching them. To take the first step, landing on an asteroid, a vehicle powerful enough to leave Low Earth Orbit* and enter the asteroid's orbit is needed. According to Martin Elvis , an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, that vehicle could be the Falcon Heavy. At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science* (AAAS) in Austin, Texas, Martin Elvis stated that the Falcon Heavy has the potential to increase the number of asteroids we can reach by a factor of 15, thus enabling asteroid mining.
"We have thousands of ore-bearing asteroids instead of just a few hundred."
The value of the minerals in these asteroids is quite astonishing. The iron found in the 16 Psyche asteroid alone is estimated to be worth $10 quintillion , and according to NASA, if we could extract all the minerals from every asteroid between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, we would find a fortune large enough to give every person on Earth $100 billion. Asteroid mining could not only make successful miners millionaires or even billionaires, but it could also facilitate humanity's colonization of the cosmos. We could use asteroids containing iron, cobalt, titanium, and other materials to build places like space stations. Some asteroids contain abundant oxygen and water necessary for astronaut survival, and some contain ammonia and hydrogen that we could convert into rocket fuel for our spacecraft. If Elvis is right, and Falcon Heavy can help us access these extraterrestrial resources, SpaceX's $90 million cost per launch would be dirt cheap compared to the amounts modern miners would earn. 21st Century Gold Rush, published by the Huffington Post, is a multi-award-winning essay that depicts, in images and words, how the refugee crisis has transformed the world's economy.
Translator: Ayşe Ege Palaz References 1. Futurism, “Falcon Heavy Could Make Asteroid Mining a Reality” < https://futurism.com/falcon-heavy-asteroid-mining/ >
Originally published on Medium on April 24, 2023. English translation of “Falcon Heavy Sayesinde Asteroit Madenciliği Gerçekleşebilir!”.