When people talk about "sustainability" it's a safe bet that they're talking in a strictly terrestrial manner. Harnessing the power of the sun with solar panels, harnessing the power of the wind with windmills, replacing this type of light bulb with that type of light bulb that lasts X times longer and uses X times less energy... But there are some people who set their sights a little higher. Enter Planetary Resources, co-founded by Eric Anderson and Peter H. Diamandis.
No strangers to space, Diamandis and Anderson are what is commonly known as "space entrepreneurs." Diamandis is the chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, which runs competitions awarding the development of low-cost private spaceflight, as well as competitions for various other types of scientific breakthroughs. Anderson is an aerospace engineer and is the co-founder of Space Adventures, a commercial space flight company.
The aim of Planetary Resources is a bold, even romantic one. The company aims to fuel the future prosperity of mankind via the mining of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for various natural resources that are scarce down here on Earth. Asteroids, being largely made of the same stuff as our planet, contain many of these resources in abundance. Space, in turn, contains a nearly unlimited number of asteroids, which, if mined, could equal an incredibly lucrative venture.
An asteroid a third the size of a football field may contain anywhere from $25 billion to $50 billion dollars worth of platinum in today's prices. Easy access to nearly unlimited quantities of platinum and other rare metals, like palladium, could have a significant impact on the development and price of microelectronics, energy, and information storage, not to mention the innovations that a sudden surplus of materials could lead to.
But rare metals are the end game. There are many water-rich asteroids floating around in that great beyond, just waiting to be sucked dry. Easy access to water in space means renewable sources of extraterrestrial water and, when the hydrogen and oxygen molecules are separated, easily synthesized rocket fuel and breathable air, making large-scale space exploration that much easier.
The company's first move would be to launch mass-produced 9-inch space telescopes, dubbed the Arkyd Series 100, to identify NEAs that are smaller than 50 meters (or nearly 55 yards) and suitable for retrieval back to Earth orbit. The Arkyd Series 100 would be followed by launchings of an Arkyd Series 200 and Series 300 to gather more detailed information on the asteroids, with mining scheduled to begin in 2025.
Despite investments by some heavy hitters -- namely, Google executives Larry Page and Eric E. Schmidt, former Microsoft software chief Charles Simonyi, and film maker James Cameron -- some concerns have been raised about the project.
Like, for example, do we really want to bring asteroids into Earth's orbit, where they can, by some unhappy miscalculation, come hurtling towards the good cities of Earth? Or, do we even have the technology to refine these materials in space, or to bring them to Earth for refinement in a cost-effective manner?
There's also the consequence of flooding the Earth with cheap gold and platinum. I'm no economist, but I'm fairly certain a planet of people sitting on piles of gold won't work wonders for the market. People are antsy with today's gold prices. But I'm sure Planetary Resources will have it all ironed out before 2025.
I like the whole idea, but as you point out- there are more than a few things still to be figured out. Since China has cornered the world market on many rare earth metals, it seems that finding clean alternatives would be a priority- especially as we make more hybrid cars and devices that need these materials. I would caution us to beware of the unintended consequences, however. I would feel better if NASA were involved.
It is definitely a very interesting idea. However, there may be a lot of negative impact we have to deal with. The ecosystem on earth has a delicate balance. And even without introducing anything outside of this system there are many human activities which have affected the system. How are we going to know the impact of introducing the contents of asteroids into the system?
I really don't think that is a big issue, especially if we refine in space. The amount of mass compared to the earth is small. I am more concerned with accidents that cause an asteroid to hit the earth.
@Tokyogai
You are right about that. It's going to be a task that will have to be monitored very closely. I suppose they will have to use robots with precision programming to control every minute detail. Possible human error could cause vast damage. I suppose it will also be difficult to have human miners working outside in such conditions so it is most likely that robots will take the lead.
Like the Coca-cola's shrimp farming, whenever people or companies made tons of easy money, they want to squander it, one way or another, on earth or into space.
It get's even weirder. I googled this and found that supposedly, the Chairman of Coca Cola in Mexico thought that there was great potential to sell farm-raised shrimp to McDonald's. McShrimp sandwiches, hold the cheese?
Sergio Zyman, better known as the Coke executive behind the failed launch of New Coke -- something Fortune Magazine referred to in 1995 as "the biggest marketing blunder since the launch of Ford's Edsel" -- did have some interesting things to say about the shrimp farming.
You'd be amazed at how many companies confuse what they know how to do, their core competence, with what consumers will buy from them, what I call their core essence.
For example, Coke once got into the shrimp farming business. We had core competencies covering purchasing, distribution, sales, logistics, and global operational capabilities. Where it all fell apart was that we never thought about why customers would buy shrimp from us in the first place.
Shrimp farming was not a core essence. Consumers simply couldn't make a connection between shrimp and Coke.
Interesting because I recently read "Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food." Very interesting read. A lot of stuff about acqualculture and how so far success has been limited. The key to success in acquaculture will be finding a species suitable to farming that can subsist on an economical diet because in many cases the cost of the feed outstrips return on the fish.
I heard about this on the radio the other day, I have to say I really thought it was an exciting idea, though probably one that will not work out. It brings me back to my days of reading Sci-Fi.
Yes, it will have some secondary effects - for one, the risk of mass extinctions due to an asteroid - earth collisions will be reduced. Once we have swarms of asteroid tracking satellites all over space - it will be nearly impossible for large asteroids to get through without being spotted well in advance.
In fact, this idea is so good, I"m putting it on my list of things to do, once I make my first billion dollars.
I always love it when I come late to a conversation thread because these discussions take the most AMAZING turns, in this case from rare metals to shrimp farming. The power of our collective minds is incredible...or NOT!
Back to the asteroids for a second...I'm thinking really, really big nets, or maybe just pull them in with a supersize magnet!
Seriously though, I think when the technology for retrieving space junk matures a bit, that will form the basis for asteroid capture as well. And both sound like decidedly NON-shrimpy markets!
Well, whatever we want to call our IU stream of consciousness, I love it @Noreen! I always feel smarter or as if my POV has broadened with I'm here on the site.
Without IU, I would have missed shrimp farming, valuable rogue asteroids, the perils of footie pajamas...and your wing walker parachute story...and that's just THIS month!
The article and the discussion gave my an un-settling feeling. We human beings already consumed so much natural resources on earth, now some genius started to invest and develop to suck more natural resources from space. Good or bad? Really hard to say, but not a easy feeling.
There's also the consequence of flooding the Earth with cheap gold and platinum.
@Joey, very intersting article. I think you have really scared all the gold/silver investor with your blog. Its already nearly 100$ down :) since the day your wrote this blog.
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