Asteroid and Lunar Mining

Space is a big place. Inside of space there are many objects that can be used to benefit all of humanity. Moons and asteroids full of water(in ice form, usually not flowing), Helium-3(which is used for nuclear fusion), and a lot of rare- earth metals such as platinum, gold, palladium, and iron. These metals can all be used for all sorts of things such as fuel cells for cleaner homes/ vehicles, more efficient computers, spaceship building, and building supplies for space colonies/settlements. Asteroid and lunar mining is one of the biggest innovations that is going to shape the future for generations to come.

A lot of people might ask “Why bother leaving the Earth when it will just waste resources getting there?” Well that is the problem right now. We have to waste a large amount of resources launching different parts into space. The wasted fuel and rocket parts are all because of the Earth’s massive gravity. Mining on the moon would do a couple of things. First, it could establish a permanent settlement off of Earth which could prolong humanity incase of some catastrophic event. Second, it would allow a lighter gravity to launch things from, which would mean less waste of fuel and other disposable rocket parts. Mining on the moon will be beneficial to humanity because it would allow us to build space stations and colony ships without having to worry about the gravity well that is on Earth. The ships could be much bigger, and much cheaper to build with the abundance of metals and fuel that would be there.

Asteroids, a lot like the moon, contain some valuable resources for us to use. Platinum and gold for catalysts/ other things, iron for ship building or building in general, and water which could be used for fuel as well. Asteroids could also be beneficial in traveling to other planets or deep space as you could build a “shield” of sorts around the ship to protect people and instruments from solar radiation. Massive asteroids could also be hollowed out to be used as colonies as well. The outer layer of the asteroid would protect from radiation, hollowing the asteroid would also provide the colony with metals and, possibly, water.