TELF AG explores the new frontiers of space mining
A new source of strategic minerals
When the European Space Agency stated in 2021 that the future of space exploration would depend on the ability of humans to extract resources from space, few fully grasped the meaning of these words. At this delicate historical juncture, the success of the global energy transition could also depend on mineral resources not found on Earth. Faced with the possible shortages of a specific material, many governments and institutions have tried to extract minerals from sources other than the mainland: from various kinds of seabed, scrap, and waste materials. The extraction of minerals and raw materials from space no longer represents a science fiction hypothesis; it could soon become a concrete reality.
The image of a hypothetical spaceship landing on an unknown planet to search for natural resources and bring them back to Earth still appears quite remote. Still, for a few years now, NASA and various mining companies have started to raise eyes to the sky and fix them on the resources that could be found in celestial bodies – planets, comets, asteroids – and which, once extracted and processed, could contribute to a large extent to the success of the energy transition. The solid bodies in the solar system and other galaxies are composed of frozen water and elements such as carbon, minerals, metals, and rock. Inside them could be some of those strategic minerals that play a key role in energy transformation on planet Earth, such as nickel, manganese, iron, or platinum.
A special NASA mission
Last October, the Financial Times announced to the world that NASA had launched a special mission in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter to establish with certainty whether it was possible to extract minerals and metals. The mission will focus on 16 Psyche, a metallic asteroid that could represent a real gold (or metal) mine for humanity. NASA’s mission began in October 2023 and is expected to conclude within six years. The unique character of this mission is there for all to see for the first time: a spacecraft launched into space will not observe a celestial body made up of gas or ice but of metals.
It is also for this reason that the mission will also be observed very carefully by various mining companies, which for years have been living with the possibility that more than the actual availability of terrestrial raw materials may be needed to satisfy the growing demand coming from the industry. NASA, in any case, has already specified that the mission’s task is not represented by the extraction of strategic raw materials from asteroids but by scientific research and in-depth study of these celestial bodies, with the aim of collecting valuable information for all operations that may take place in the future (including the extraction of these metals). Moreover, the technology for mining from asteroids has yet to be fully developed, although several companies (unrelated to NASA) are already making several steps forward in this sector.
The feeling is that humanity is only at the dawn of space mining, one of the frontiers of mining of the future. However, 16 Psyche’s mission has already outlined a particular path.
