The [Final] Frontier - Space Part Two

There are a copious number of possibilities awaiting humanity in space. Unfortunately, when most people look at space, the space program, they only see nothingness. They look up at the stars and say, “it looks nice, and it’s interesting, but that’s about it. No need to put too much effort for that”. That’s where space mining comes in.

In many ways the idea of space mining is the response to the romanticism of space exploration. The space program got off the ground in the late 60s for two reasons; it was a chance to one-up the socialist powers of the world by showing the strength of our democratic free market system, and because of the promise that the space program would spur the creation of new technologies that could then be applied in the commercial space.

But at some point the promise of the NASA program hit a wall. Despite the fact that we did win the space race, and that many useful technologies did come from the program, costs started to rise for NASA. I think that to a much higher degree than many would like to admit, there was some fantasy that we would reach the moon, find aliens or evidence of some past inhabitation, but we didn’t. I think the realization that there really is no complex life in our little corner of our galaxy, no real indication that anything like that was up there on the Moon, or on Mars, and some of the excitement was dashed.

From there the question became, what’s the point? Many people began to question whether the money being spent exploring space was worth it. Indeed, the space program costs a lot of money. Over its life it averages something like $15-16 Billion.

There is always the argument that the money could be better spent on other matters, or at the very least not adding to the national debt. But the cause of scientific discovery and understanding should not be discounted. We can debate the exact focus, but I think that it’s not insignificant that scientists and researchers try to understand more and more about space. It is that work that will form the basis for everything we will seek to do in the future.

Cost is not, however, insignificant. I understand there is a need for clear incentives. That is part of the reason that we see the idea of commercial space travel picking up steam and growth of private programs like Space X.

The problem with recreational space travel is the difficulty of making it up there for the potential consumer, the cost, and the fact that there is nothing to do. The space tourism idea is pitched as something similar a pleasure cruise; spend the day really just going in one big circle to look at the sights.

As it stands, however, astronauts have to go through a lot of training just to make it into space. That would mean anyone wanting to go would have to go through at least a minimal training program. That would put space tourism more in the vein of sky diving or jet skiing, not really going on a cruise. Then there is of course the fact that as space tourism exists right now and for the immediate future, you have not much to do. You’ll be buckled into a seat, head up to space or the edge of space, and you’ll come back down. There will be minimal chance to get up and walk around, and the ships have small porthole windows so the overall ability to see out will be somewhat limited.

So, space tourism for now is little more than a status achievement for the really rich. It’s too expensive for the vast, vast majority of people. It has an excitement factor, but it is questionable how much of one exists; you get to go to space, but you might not get to see much, and there’s nothing else you can really do up there right now except maybe experience zero gravity for a little bit.

So then comes the idea of mining in space. Space mining has a couple of advantageous backings of concept, both functionally and historically.

To begin with, what is space mining? Well, there are a couple ideas, though very similar. One is mining the Moon or Mars. As the closest reachable bodies in our solar system that capture our imaginations, the idea is that there are resources – water, minerals like gold, platinum, etc – that are on these celestial bodies the same way that they are found here on Earth. While the Moon idea has since faded as there is now thought to be little if any desirable resources on the Moon, the Mars idea still has some life to it, particularly because of the water and iron.

Then there is the mining of asteroids. The theory here is that an asteroid would pass closer to Earth, so there wouldn’t be the cost of going so far as Mars. Furthermore asteroids would potentially have more rare elements on them and more easily accessible deposits of water ice. The difficulty comes from the fact that asteroids are moving targets. They zip in from deep in the solar system, shoot by the planet towards the sun, then back out the solar system. It’s like trying to hit a moving target; you have to get in and get out quickly, which is a breeding ground for dangers and mistakes.

What’s the benefit? There could be a lot, depending on how much can actually be brought back. Aside from the direct value of water or gold or iron by the ounce, a little clever marketing could add further profit just from the idea that this came from space. Take a look around the internet at how much some people have paid for common rock from bits of asteroids that have actually impacted the planet. Anyone that manages to collect even a pound of material to bring back (and one would assume that they would get more than that) could make enough money to pay for the cost of getting it, and still make a lot of money.

There are also the fringe benefits. Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries are two companies who have in the last 12-18 months projected plans for beginning asteroid mining in the not too distant future. Part of their plans involves surveying the solar system for potential mining targets, finding a means to “capture” asteroids in lunar orbit for mining (so you can forego the pot-shot operation I described earlier), and using some asteroids as fuel depots by way of converting some of the resources in the asteroid into fuel sources (we’re not talking oil here; oil comes from breaking down carbon-based life forms, and we haven’t found any).

The surveying will help with the goal of mapping asteroids that could potentially be on a collision course with Earth, identifying those potential dangers. The capturing plan will help with redirecting dangerous asteroids, preventing possible cataclysmic strikes. And the setup of fuel depots in lunar orbit could be the launching point of future travels deeper in space.

This all holds a single common thread – private industry. That is clearly the future that lies ahead of us. NASA got the ball rolling on space travel. Like the first explorations of the oceans in search of new worlds, government did some of the heavy lifting, testing the waters. The investment of government money into private endeavors is where things have been going and where things will increasingly go. Space X received a lot of funding to go about delivering supplies to the ISS, rather than NASA having to do it all themselves.

That being said, I don’t think the government’s role is done. There is the obvious, which is the establishment of a set of regulations, policies, and guidelines governing the safety standards and rights when in space. There are already international laws against weapons in space, but those are tenuous at best, particularly if corporations start trying to justify arming their ships to protect against rivals, saboteurs, etc.

I further still believe that the purpose of government is to do big things which businesses and individuals cannot or will not do themselves. I still believe that NASA has foundational activities they need to be involved in. Science and research will certainly be the prime focus, that pursuit of understanding empowering private industry to take what steps they may. Something bigger, like the space elevator or colonies I talked about in the last post, are things that will certainly have/need private effort, but will need the heavy lifting of a NASA to do. I think the very idea of allowing private corporations or individuals to control those particular avenues is a recipe for a lot of trouble and would be a dark chapter in our development into a space-faring civilization.

Today’s topic however, space mining and space tourism, even to some degree the idea of space “hotels” – sort of like an ISS at a bit lower orbit just for hotel-like stays – is something that is completely within the realm of possibility for private industry and should be supported. It creates a new avenue of interest, as well as an industry with vast potential. Ten to fifteen years from now I think the idea of asteroid mining will cease being a dream and will become a reality. It was the pursuit of gold and spices that drove the explorers to leave Europe and travel across the Atlantic Ocean, down the African coast, into the Indian Sea and the Mediterranean. It was for gold that people traveled west to California. Chances are that our expansion into space will be driven by that same interest.