Jacob Holzhauer
Mr. Reuter
Economics
January 12, 2015
Asteroid Mining
Space exploration is a very interesting topic and has lead to many improvements in our technology. Now, since the space race is over, we have less of an incentive to explore the solar system. One incentive to space exploration that could make the stars closer to us all is asteroid mining. The opportunity costs are much less than what could be gained from it and could revolutionise the world.
Currently the country is recovering from a recession and with other internal issues, the money could be spent in other places to make it more worthwhile. Obama has suggested that space exploration be left to private firms, this way we can save billions of dollars and the money will be used elsewhere and we can still have things going on in orbit (Pasztor) sent by private businesses. I agree, if we don’t put government money into it, we can save money that could be used to balance our debt and solve other internal issues. On the other hand, if we succeed in mining an asteroid it could bring trillions of dollars into our market, not only benefiting consumers by decreasing the costs of materials mined by decreasing their scarcity, but also decreasing the cost of space travel in general. “[A few months ago] the asteroid 1012_DA14 measuring a mere 150 feet (45m) zoomed passed Earth. It, however, had $65 billion worth of water and $130 billion worth of metals within it,” (New Frontier).
Asteroid mining, simply enough, is launching a probe or spacecraft to mine resources from asteroids. Every day this concept becomes more and more possible as teams are already underway developing ways to mine asteroids and owning things besides probes and spacecraft in space recently became legal. If this type of program takes off it could mean a new era of space exploration. In some ways it is almost a requirement for humans to survive as a species. As our populations grow, we will either need to enact laws limiting growth or we need more resources from an outside source (New Frontier).
Asteroid mining is a clear part of our future if we want to survive as a species -- It’s also really cool. I think we can expect it to positively affect our economy while also making scarce materials more common.
Works Cited
Pasztor, Andy “Commercial Space: Obama proposes turning NASA work to private firms,” The Wall Street Journal. 24 Jan 2010. Web. 12 Jan 2016.
Gowan, Rajesh. "Exploring the New Frontier: Space Mining." NotEnoughGoodcom. Not Enough Good, 2016. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.
I never knew that these types of things existed on asteroids. Although it shouldn't have to come to this, it would be a great way to survive if we ever used up all of one resource that was also available on an asteroid somewhere else. I can't imagine what $65 billion worth of water looks like, but if it's anything like the price of water here, it must have had tons. If we imported all of the precious metals, it could decrease the cost of somethings metal, making a lot of things a lot cheaper.. I think it's a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic idea. There are massive asteroids that are filled with minerals, some are completely made of a singular mineral. Which can be helpful in advancing our technology further. I do think NASA does need more funding because space exploration is so important. They've contributed to more than just space, they've created common house hold objects.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you made space travel seem economically possible. I like the idea of space travel because it pushes us to think of new technologies. I think this could be the first step in colonizing other planets.
ReplyDeleteThe benefits of mining asteroids definitely outweigh the negatives. If there is an easy way to leave most of this industry to private businesses/firms, then it would help save money and that is a good thing. Bringing in the resources from those asteroids is one of those pluses that outweigh any negatives: no matter how much we deny it, the entire world could always use the extra resources. It would make everything cheaper overall. The only problem is dividing up those resources based on who finds it, and whoever that is will have to decide what to do with those scarce resources.
ReplyDeleteThis is by far one of the best solutions for our dwindling resources issue. If we can find a safe and non-costly form of space travel then we may yet keep ourselves from destroying our home. We profit and survive and the only opportunity cost would be all the money we put into this endeavor for the rocket fuel, parts, crew, and so on.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that this was even a thing. And I didn't know that these types of resources came from asteroids. This option would be great if our resources started going scarce. But I don't think if would be worth it to spend so much money to do something that may not work.
ReplyDeleteI have heard a lot about asteroid mining, and it's really an interesting topic to investigate. However, I believe the government should still fund NASA, as they have decades of research and billions of dollars worth of resources. Leaving space exploration and research to private firms would lead to another space race, potentially leading to many other consequences.
ReplyDeleteDoing something like this would be amazing, and clearly truly beneficial for us. But in the long run, what might happen when those "private" businesses due fund the trip to mine the asteroid and come back with all the supplies. I feel like unless the government has some sort of financial or legal involvement in this, we will loose that profit from the asteroids because they believe it was their money and work so they should get all the credit? We would still be up in water and metal but we unfortunately miss out on the financial growth the could be happening.
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