As technology progresses and new gadgets are introduced to our daily life style, the precious and scarce metals like Terbium, Neodymium and Tantalum dwindle. The production is always slow, and is also responsible for the ongoing worldwide chip crisis. The more we try to gather them the more toxins we spread in the form of mining wastes into the atmosphere. But what if there was a way to gather them not from the earth, but from the remnants of the formation of the universe, floating around for billions of years, in the sky?
Asteroid mining, an ambitious idea, is a way to extract resources from asteroids near to the earth. They might contain trillions worth of precious metals, but the process itself of extracting them might be extremely expensive. As space exploration becomes cheaper through the years, it might start becoming a feasible idea.
The process would involve choosing a nearby asteroid and sending electrically powered probes to attach. Electric engines are efficient and can travel for long without running out of fuel, which itself costs thousands of dollars to produce.
After snagging an asteroid, the probe will simply have to propel it into position to reach a rendezvous point with earth in orbit.
When near enough, more probes can be sent to extract metals and mine through the plentiful reserves. Extracted metals can be sent back by reusable rockets or simply dropped into the oceans in metallic capsules and then collected.
This is not science fiction, asteroid mining could help us with our metal needs for millions of years down the line. As we mine more and more, the easier it will get to obtain more. Technologically dependent lifestyles will become cheaper and so will our planet heal. A total win-win for humanity, it might even be the first step to colonising our universe, as resource gathering is the first step in the process.
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