Although our planet has provided so much to us for centuries, it is undeniable that many of our resources are finite. Many kinds of metals and elements will not be around forever, which is one of the reasons why scientists are always at work trying to find alternatives. One such alternative, due to our many technological advancements, is becoming less of a science fiction and more of a scientific reality.
Mining asteroids is an idea that has been floating around for quite some time, going back to a pipe dream for what people imagined would be possible decades later. The BBC reported on this objective when covering the start-up company known as AstroForge. They launched their first unmanned spacecraft this year to attempt to collect data about a certain asteroid’s composition. Although they lost communication with the spacecraft, they did manage to get into deep space, which is a big deal. They plan to conduct another launch next year, with the hopes that they can maintain contact with the spacecraft and gather more data.
Asteroids are known to be made of massive combinations of precious metals, such as platinum, gold, aluminum, etc. Adding these resources to our planet will help us regain the slowly dwindling supply that we have found within the Earth. Not only that, but if such technology becomes available soon, it may become possible to collect some of the space junk that orbits our planet. Of course, it will take time to create the technology needed to maintain the speed of these objects in space and collect their resources safely. For now, we must wait and see if this idea bears fruit or if we must look somewhere else.
