Iron,
Gold,
Copper.
Minerals are the lifeblood of the world's economy.
From the Arctic circle to the Sahara desert.
The $1.7 trillion mining industry supplies raw materials
needed for everything from sky scrapers to smart phones.
But mining also comes
with an increasingly critical environmental cost.
One that may require us to think about off planet solutions
before it's too late.
Asteroids, moons and planets in our own solar system
hold an essentially unlimited supply of untapped resources.
The first trillionaires,
will be those who mine asteroids.
Resources like gold,
platinum and rare Earth metals
make some of those asteroids incredibly high priced
but the most valuable element may be our most basic one.
What you want to mine in space is what you need a lot of.
And while humans have been mining
for thousands of years.
Mining in space requires new,
innovative technologies to realize any potential business
and economic opportunities.
Such technologies might just allow humanity
to expand operations off Earth.
And take that next giant leap.
These tiny dots represent the millions of asteroids
in our solar system.
Over the past two decades government
and private aerospace companies
have been investigating their composition,
location and even possible pay offs to mine them.
This one, known as Bennu
has an estimated value of $669 million.
Ryugu, $82 billion.
Better yet,
an asteroid called Davida
which is valued at more than $100 trillion.
And the reason for these high price tags,
they're made up of valuable metals
like platinum, gold and iron.
We believe that asteroids have platinum group metals,
rare Earth metals in higher percentages
than you might find on the Moon, for instance.
Only once in human history
has an astroid sample been brought back to Earth.
On the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's
Hayabusa mission in 2010.
And even then, the return sample was merely dust particles.
And the total cost of that mission,
approximately $250 million.
One problem is that compared to the Moon,
there's very little gravity.
So somehow you have to attach yourself to the asteroid
whereas on the Moon,
the gravity will hold your processing equipment in place.
So, the general answer to the question,
can we bring mining materials from space back to Earth?
The general answer is no.
Bringing things from space to Earth,
only makes sense if what is retrieved
is so extraordinarily valuable
and just not available on Earth.
And even returning the most valuable asteroids
could drastically devalue those materials.
Take asteroid 16 Psyche, for instance.
NASA is constructing a probe to launch in 2022.
To study the potato shaped object
which is roughly 95% metals.
Nickel iron, platinum and even gold.
Some estimates value the asteroid at $700 quintillion.
NASA says it may be the inner core of a developing planet
that somehow lost its outer layers.
Offering incredible insight into how planets are formed.
If someone did manage to bring large amounts
of this asteroid back to Earth,
supply of the resources would sky rocket.
Meaning we'd have more of the material
than we would have use for.
Causing the price to crash to almost zero.
Once we erode the rarity of a high value metal or mineral.
The value of that terrestrially could drop significantly.
Experts agree that a more likely scenario
is materials mined in space will stay in space.
Jump starting a whole new money making industry.
Any space nation will have looked at what's called
in-situ resource utilization.
Which is a very common space term
meaning you use the resources where you are.
So taking that model of
if you need it in space, mine it in space.
What would you be mining?
Mostly you need fuel.
There's something else much more valuable
for use in space that's abundant on Earth.
Water.
Not only can water sustain human and plant life
for future manned space missions.
The components of water,
hydrogen and oxygen can also be separated
and reassembled to make fuel.
The zero emission fuel called hydrogen fuel
is the same used in spacecraft propulsion
and fuel cell vehicles.
Hydrogen fuel research in this new space race
could also spur new technologies
that can help fight climate change
by speeding the elimination of fossil fuel use on Earth.
And there's already a high demand for it
and an immediate business opportunity
for risk tolerant companies wishing to make a fortune.
In a 2018 paper by industry, government
and academic experts,
they estimated that for an initial $4 billion investment
in the Moon water mining operation.
Which is about the cost of a luxury hotel in Las Vegas.
About $2.4 billion in revenue could be generated annually.
The sort of business case 101 for mining in space
is if you're gonna launch something from Earth,
it's gonna cost you about $10000, $20000 per kilo
to get it into space.
So if you need water for something in space.
And you can produce it for less than $10000 a kilo
then do it in space.
Do you know Launch Alliance, ULA?
They have put a price on the water in space.
They have said
"We'll give you this amount of money for the water."
Which means people who're going out
and trying to produce that water now have a customer.
In 2016 the ULA announced it's willing to pay
around $3000 per kilogram for propellant in an orbit
less than 2000 kilometers in altitude.
Called low Earth orbit.
Compared with the estimated price of $4000 per kilogram
to deliver the propellant from Earth.
Most experts believe the Moon
is a logical starting point for this.
It has more gravity than an asteroid,
making it easier to land.
And it's poles are thought to hold
vast amounts of water ice.
That potential volume of water has made it the focus
of NASA's Artemis program
Which aims to land astronauts on the Moon's southern pole.
And also make the space agency a critical first customer
for any water harvested on the Moon.
China, India, Israel.
The U.S., Europe.
Everyone is now sort of focusing on the Moon.
And all of these government programs
are looking to set up shop for a water mining future.
A fueling station on the Moon
could ultimately make space ventures much cheaper
and make future space missions possible.
Although entirely theoretical at this point,
here's how it could play out.
Water is mined on the Moon and a fueling station is set up.
This would provide the first customers,
most likely government agencies with water
for human consumption and fuel for spacecraft.
Water derived fuel could also be harvested on an asteroid.
Propellant transports then carry the fuel
from the surfaces to a stable storage point
between the Earth and the Moon.
Fueling stations can also be set up in low Earth orbit
making it accessible to satellites and other space craft.
As of now,
satellites that run out of fuel are decommissioned.
Extra fuel would allow them to stay in their orbits.
Increasing their life span.
Since using a rocket
to get fuel out of Earths atmosphere is expensive,
refueling in low Earth orbit can greatly improve the size,
type and cost of missions in space.
The commercial launch industry like Spacex
would also benefit from these fuel depots.
The use of lunar based propellant and commodities
may also provide a stepping stone
for interplanetary exploration.
But while there has been a renewed interest in the Moon,
it hasn't been easy.
In just 2019, missions to the Moons surface
by both India and Israel resulted in landing failures.
And the technology to mine and extract
these potential water reserves on the Moon
and beyond is still unproven.
But some entrepreneurs are still optimistic.
The answer is yes.
The technology exists.
We can put something together,
we can send something to the Moon that can mine water.
So we are sort of like the trail blazers
trying to figure out what's going on on the Moon.
What's below the surface?
Meet Honeybee Robotics.
They've designed drills used in NASA's past Mars missions
and have sampling and mining systems
going on future planned missions to the Moon,
Saturn's moon Titan.
Mars moon Phobos and Jupiter's moon Europa.
We've been focusing on developing high end,
fully autonomous drilling systems
from literally iPhone sized all the way to the size
that cannot fit inside this vacuum chamber behind me.
And that's why NASA
has long relied on their expertise.
Unlike your everyday drill from the hardware store,
their drills overcome the numerous limitations of space.
Which include extreme temperatures and low gravity.
That means you have to be very, very imaginative.
Very innovative.
To solve these problems.
He is actually trying to do what we do here on Earth
but with a fraction of the power.
With a fraction of the mass,
with a fraction of the volume
and drilling is unforgiving.
If you get stuck, if something goes wrong,
there is no second chance.
The difficulty in drilling would delay placement
of the second probe until the next day.
One of their innovative ideas called PlanetVac,
uses compressed gas to shoot material
into a sample container.
It's ergonomic design
allows it to be inside the foot of a lander.
And was chosen to go with NASA funded payloads to the Moon
and the Mars moon Phobos.
For mining and extracting water on the Moon,
they've created the planetary volatiles extractor
or PVEX.
And it not only drills, it mines.
It's based of a drill that removes a cylinder material
called a coring drill.
But it's not just any coring drill.
It's a system with heaters on the inside.
So you drill down, the required depth.
You heat up the material
that's on the inside of the coring drill.
And ice turns into vapor and vapor moves up the coring drill
into the cold finger.
So you're capturing water vapor like for example,
in your freezer when you have condensation.
PVEX is a mining system.
It can actually get into the soil.
It can actually extract water,
it can actually capture this water in a separate container.
We have all the pieces together.
And we can go to the Moon or Mars and mine it.
When it's tested on the Moon
which may happen in the next couple of years,
PVEX will be the first end to end mining system
deployed in space.
And they have even more futuristic ambitions,
to use a PVEX drill, like this one.
That not only extracts and stores water
but uses it to propel itself like a flying kettle.
WINE or is stands for the world is not enough.
It's a James Bond style, it's very futuristic.
It's a new concept of space exploration.
The main idea is
to send hundreds of low cost WINE spacecrafts
all over the solar system to give a clear atlas of asteroids
that have water resources.
Honeybee Robotics is one of the many start ups
that NASA is depending on to develop new, innovative ideas.
WINE is a strong, strong, private public partnership
with NASA right now.
To come up with lenders that we can send twice a year.
But will put payloads to the Moon.
Payloads like instruments,
like rovers and also humans.
We're doing it.
It's happening right now.
Very, very exciting times.
By giving out multiple contracts,
NASA reduces the cost for themselves
and the entire industry.
We wanna have numerous providers
that are competing against each other.
On cost and innovation.
Driving down the cost and increasing access to space
and industrializing.
Start up TransAstra with a new infusion
of $2 million from NASA has teamed up
with other space start ups
and educational institutions to prove its process
for harvesting and utilizing water from asteroids
without even touching them.
Optical mining is our patent pending process
for using highly concentrated sunlight
or light from another source to excavate the surface
without having to use digging tools to dig into it.
And this is very important in space.
Especially for asteroids.
To help develop and prove this technology,
they've teamed up with the Colorado School of Mines.
It's known as the optical mining test bed.
First, they put the simulated asteroid in a vacuum chamber
to recreate the conditions of space.
Then they use liquid nitrogen
to cool the surface inside the tank called a cryo trap.
Then they turn on the giant light bulbs
which imitates sunlight that they then concentrate
into a beam.
Resulting in very high temperatures.
The beam of light hits the asteroid target,
fractures a sample
and then water and other materials are released
and frozen onto the cryo trap.
The volatile materials which include water,
methane,
carbon dioxide.
Other valuable materials that are common
and cheap here on the ground
but very valuable in space, trapped on our cryo trap.
That's pretty nice.
The same way
that we would trap those chemicals in space
for a real asteroid mining mission.
Optical mining bypasses the daunting task
of trying to land on an object with such low gravity
that it could simply break apart when touched.
And there's no drill to potentially get stuck.
But for this to work,
they're targeting small asteroids the size of a beach ball
for their tech demonstrator model.
With plans to accommodate rocks
the size of a cubic tennis court
and bigger in future models.
We think the right thing to do
is to rendezvous with the asteroid,
match rotation with it.
Put a thin film bag around it,
cinch that bag down and then de spin the astroid.
And now you have the astroid in a container
so you can work with it in a practical way.
TransAstra believes that harvesting water
on asteroids will not only make space travel more affordable
for private industry
but it will make NASA's proposed missions
to take astronauts to the Moon,
Mars and even asteroids possible.
Within a budget that the U.S. congress
may be willing to provide.
We can cut out hundreds of billions of dollars
and actually make it possible
for NASA to do all those exciting missions
in a period of just 20 years or so
by harnessing the asteroids.
Now what's really cool about it,
is that by using public private partnership
and working with companies like TransAstra.
The infrastructure for space resource harvesting
and commercial transport in space can be developed.
So by NASA doing it this way
and NASA becoming the first user of these resources
and this infrastructure for its exploration missions
then that infrastructure is left behind for industry
and that can create massive industries in space.
Like it even becomes cost effective to build a space hotel.
TransAstra and partner Momentus
will be on a two year contract with NASA
to build an asteroid mining
and in space transportation prototype
called mini B to provide optical mining in space.
We live in a very exciting time
where we're gonna be able to take that to space.
And the resources in space are literally unlimited.
And those unlimited resources
are what some universities are betting on.
At the Colorado School of Mines
where the TransAstra does it's optical mining research
they now offer a graduate degree in space resources.
Our space resources program is the first of its kind
in the world.
There is anticipated to be a growing number of jobs
directly in space resources.
But the skills and practices of space resources
can be applied to lots of other things.
And a huge benefit to space mining research
is that a lot of this technology can be beneficial
here on Earth.
Like their 3D printer,
that uses materials on the Moon or Mars to make structures
and is modeled after start up icons 3D printer
that is used to make homes on Earth.
Their penetrometer is tool on the end of a robotic arm
that's being developed to take measurements on the Moon
but has applications for mining companies.
And even a rover in a lunar test bed
that can drill and prospect for resources has its benefits.
There are places on Earth where mining companies
and equipment manufacturers are looking at applying smart,
robotic systems in terrestrial mines.
They could go into places that are not safe for humans.
They could work in much more confined, toxic environments
than a person could.
And one country is doing just that.
And hopes to leverage their expertise in robotic systems
for mining remote in inhospitable locations
that are almost Mars like.
Recently, the administrator of NASA
when the head of the Australian Space Agency visited,
was saying that the U.S. is looking to Australia
to be doing development in this area of extracting
resources in space.
One of the reasons that we in Australia
want to get into this area
is because of the strength of our mining industry.
The strength of our mining automation
and the strength of our mining research
and we see it as a way that Australia can establish
a niche space capability.
Australia's high wages
have caused some of the largest mining operations
in the world to seek cost savings by using automation.
Rio Tinto, the worlds second largest mining company
has fitted operations in Australia
with fleets of autonomous trucks,
drills and even the first driverless freight train network.
Adapting these technologies
could prove useful to space programs.
And the use of space technology in mining's such as robotics
would be useful on Earth.
The Australian Center for Space Engineering research
at the University of New South Wales in Sydney
was founded in 2010
and has 15 PHD current or graduated students
researching space resource ventures related
to Australia's needs and expertise.
What we're trying to do at the moment is reduce the risk,
perceived by a large company, mining company for instance.
When they approach this type of venture.
I think one of the main reasons
that terrestrial mining companies should be looking
at this problem is that they will benefit
their terrestrial operations
by learning some of these lessons.
So, if they look at the way
that you need to automate on the Moon,
that will help their terrestrial operation.
If you look at the way
you would analyze risk for this type of mine,
they must learn new lessons
which should hopefully flow back
to their risk analysis for terrestrial mines.
Although mining companies
have terrestrial mining expertise and monetary advantages.
Only time will tell who will be the first
to provide a fueling station in space.
In terms of making it happen,
I actually don't think it'll be a start up,
I don't think it'll be a space agency,
I don't think it'll be a mining company.
But I think it will be a big company
probably driven by a high network individual.
A company like Blue Origin Spacex.
A company like that.
Not necessarily them but something like that.
Proving that this kind of mining is feasible
could trigger an influx of profit minded companies
migrating off the Earth.
Just one industry that would stake a claim
on the vast wealth of space.
Not only is the universe a place for exploration,
for private companies it's a new resource.
The key which will unlock new possibilities
in technology, manufacturing, living and working
both at home and beyond Earth.
And all of this will be the result of our next giant leap.