The economic and scientific purpose of asteroid mining on a global scale
Author : Thomas Brito
Obra D. Tompkins High School, Katy, Texas, United States
Abstract
Resources on Earth are limited to the point where creating new technology will eventually come to a pause, leading to uncertainty in the global economy. As a result, the possibility of asteroid mining has opened up, providing benefits such as sustaining the development of technology and more. This study will show the probable future of asteroid mining, given each company’s resources in the space market economically and scientifically. It will indicate the most probable processes in space and the economics of going to space to mine an asteroid. The processes include going to the moon for more accessible transportation, developing robots, and using rocket fuel. Companies can increase their chances of asteroid mining using various methods such as cooperation, technology development, and getting help from other programs. Each company that decides to mine asteroids will have to evaluate the celestial bodies around them to improve their chances of mining them. The objective of this study is to see if the risk, time, effort, and resources are worth asteroid mining for public and private companies. This was done with the Delphi method, which asked five experts a series of questions and would quantitate their conclusions. The findings showed how in terms of economics, there are too many factors that will not motivate companies. In a scientific sense, it showed that it should be done as it can progress electric items significantly.