The future of mining is not in the mine.

The future of mining is not in the mine.

If talking about mining Everyone probably thinks of going into a deep, narrow cave to dig for minerals underground. But new knowledge has emerged that these mineral resources It was completely floating in space. So much so that some asteroids contain valuable resources. To the point that if they were brought back to Earth, it would cause the world economy to collapse.

Space Mining directly translated into Thai is space drilling That is, finding and collecting resources from space. It may occur from drilling for asteroids near Earth or brought from other planets.

NASA and other space organizations such as Japan's JAXA or China's CNSA have previously launched small-scale drilling missions. But the purpose of those missions was all research.

Some people may wonder why we have to go out of the world to find resources that are already in the world? Is it worth the cost? If looking in the short term, the answer can be that "it's not worth it" just the cost of developing various technologies. And the rocket launch has already caused losses.

But if we change to look at the long term The answer will change. The resources in our world are limited. And it's going to be used up in the near future, said Dr. Lawrence Meinert, deputy assistant director of the U.S. Department of Energy and Minerals. It has been said that Many minerals, such as Dysprosium, Neodymium and Lanthanum, which are used to make almost all magnetic devices, will be used up in about 20 years. Other resources It's not much different. Therefore, we should look for new resources, which are “outer space”.

In 2012, a startup called Planetary Resources was founded by two young men, Chris Lewicki and Peter Diamandis. Their goal was to bring asteroid resources such as minerals, metals, and water back to Earth. He's great in space, with Chris working with NASA on big missions like the Opportunity rover sent to Mars. And Peter is quite famous if we're talking about space tourism. Planetary Resources has raised $50 million in funding. United States and launched his mission in 2016.

But soon their first competitor appeared. Rick Tumlinson, a space tycoon ranked among the top 100 influential people in space with his company Deep Space Industries, announced that he would launch his Prospector-1 spacecraft. Monitor space resources With plans to continue drilling and bring it back to use in the world.

The competition between the two companies had begun. Big names like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos have turned their attention. and excitedly said, “Space mining could be a real thing!” Space mining is about to become a reality! Every side was full of excitement, and many people and scientists speculated. The world's first trillionaire will be created by exploiting space.

A dead end that came faster than expected.

Cutting to the middle of 2018, Planetary Resources' combined funds are starting to run low. People became discouraged and some members turned their backs on the company, and soon Planetary Recourses was acquired by technology company Censensys.

Deep Space Industries soon followed Planetary Resources, being sold to Bradford Space, a spacecraft parts company.

Even though these two companies did not reach their goals, But along the way he launched the space drilling industry for many. They hope that humans will soon be able to drill into space.

A starting point that has the opportunity to make history.