Space mining

Space mining

Space mining refers to the future practice of mining asteroids, meteoroids, the Moon and planets - any astronomical object beyond the orbit of the Earth.

The first objects likely to be mined are the near-Earth asteroids. Likely initial products include precious metals, which may be sold on Earth, and water and iron, which could be sold in Earth orbit if/when a sufficient demand develops. Another possible product is Helium 3, which is present in the Moon's regolith and could prove economical to ship to Earth as a fuel if fusion power plants become viable.

ee also

* Asteroid mining
* Space manufacturing
* Space-based industry
* In-Situ Resource Utilization

External links

* [http://www.american.edu/TED/spacemin.htm The Future of Space Mining]
* [http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/mining_economics_and_risk_control_in_the_development_of_near_earth_asteriod_resources.shtml Mining Economics and Risk-Control in the Development of Near-Earth-Asteroid Resources]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Space-based industry — is a blanket term sometimes used to cover a variety of future forms of human activity in outer space, including space mining, space manufacturing, space trade, construction performed in space such as the building of space stations, space burial,… …   Wikipedia

  • space exploration — Investigation of the universe beyond Earth s atmosphere by means of manned and unmanned spacecraft. Study of the use of rockets for spaceflight began early in the 20th century. Germany s research on rocket propulsion in the 1930s led to… …   Universalium

  • Space manufacturing — is the production of manufactured goods in an environment outside a planetary atmosphere. Typically this includes conditions of microgravity and hard vacuum.Manufacturing in space has several potential advantages over Earth based industry.# The… …   Wikipedia

  • Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets — is a book by John S. Lewis which discusses the development of interplanetary space within our solar system. Lewis makes a prediction that the abundant natural resources of the solar system, including effectively limitless solar energy, could… …   Wikipedia

  • Space science — is an all encompassing term that describes all of the various science fields that are concerned with the study of the Universe, generally also meaning excluding the Earth and outside of the Earth s atmosphere . Originally, all of these fields… …   Wikipedia

  • Space trade — is interplanetary or interstellar trade. Futurists and pundits have been publishing plans and predictions about such trade since the 1960s. Science fiction writers have been envisioning such trade for much longer. A motivator for colonization of… …   Wikipedia

  • Mining in New Zealand — began when the indigenous Māori quarried rock such as argillite in times prior to European colonisation.[1] Mining by Europeans began in the latter half of the 19th century. New Zealand has abundant resources of coal, silver, iron ore, limestone… …   Wikipedia

  • Mining in the United States — Contents 1 History 2 Mining by mineral 3 Mining by state 4 See also Histor …   Wikipedia

  • Space stations and habitats in popular culture — Space stations and habitats are an important element in popular culture.Space stations are smaller structures where people usually stay for limited periods.A space habitat, also called space colony, orbital colony, space city, or space settlement …   Wikipedia

  • Space colonization — Artist Les Bossinas 1989 concept of Mars mission Space colonization (also called space settlement, space humanization, or space habitation) is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time,… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”