Michio Kaku is an astrophysicist and an author of many studies and books. He believes the outer space will soon become the foundation of a new “gold rush”. At the moment, some teams have already established to find reliable methods for asteroids mining expeditions and how to bring the metals from the space rocks on Earth.
Asteroids are well-known for their valuable composition
Astronomers have proven that asteroids are made of iron, carbon, nickel, platinum, gold, cobalt, iridium, and rhodium. These asteroids rich in metal will become a valuable asset when the metal resources on Earth will be depleted.
Asteroids are “flying gold mines in the outer space”, according to Michio Kaku, who believes that we already possess the right methods to bring on Earth the metals from the asteroids.
Metal asteroids value billions and trillions of US dollars
A space rock of 3,000 ft long is the most valuable asteroid, so far. It is made of platinum and its value was estimated at $5.4 trillion.
Another asteroid is only 100 ft long and values $50 billion.
The asteroids mining possibilities are endless
Several thousand asteroids fly in the immediate vicinity of our planet. However, researchers pinpointed only 12 space rocks that will return a big profit.
Astronomers depicted three asteroid categories, by value:
- M-type
- C-type
- S-type
M-type asteroids are made of precious metals and are the most valuable ones, the C-type space rocks are made of clay, and the S-type asteroids are made of various metals.
NASA will launch in 2021 a mission that has the objective to redirect an asteroid. The mission has the role to observe if we would be able to protect ourselves from an asteroid that would fly towards the Earth.
However, the importance of asteroids mining expeditions for our planet is huge but could be endangered by private companies which could use the asteroids exploitation for their own interests and profits.
