Hunt for the Treasures of Space: NASA and Startups Focus on Asteroid Mining

The vision of unlocking the economic potential of asteroids could either finance America's boldest dreams or destabilize the global economy. This risky endeavor is being pursued by NASA and a number of innovative US startups, viewing the unexplored wealth of asteroids as an opportunity. The NASA-initiated Psyche mission, set to target the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche in 2029, forms the centerpiece of these efforts. The project, launched in October 2023 with a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, aims to map the composition of this asteroid over two years. Led by scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University, it is suspected that this asteroid contains iron, nickel, and other valuable metals worth trillions. Concurrently, US startups are striving to economically harness the extraction of these materials. The California-based company TransAstra is developing techniques that use concentrated solar energy to extract metals from water-bearing celestial bodies. The company's CEO, Joel Sercel, aptly describes this process as using the sun as a "torch." However, the push to commercialize cosmic mining carries risks. Uncontrolled extraction of these resources could produce market fluctuations similar to past commodity booms, potentially causing a price collapse and putting Earth's mining industry in jeopardy. Notably, TransAstra narrowly missed the opportunity to conduct a test run with mini-moon 2024 PT5 last fall. Such opportunities are rare, propelling the company into the ranks of the first startup pioneers of space mining—a field already inspired by initiatives such as Planetary Resources, founded in 2012.