Mining in Space We are on the verge of space mining. Everything we do commercially is weighed by cost versus profit. If mining in space is able to be accomplished after all the costs of doing it are taken into account and it will still looks like a profitable venture, then it will happen. There is a lot to be figured out before that time, such as the techniques we will use, the tools we will use and how we will get the raw minerals back to the planet. Another factor we have to decide is will the mining be done robotically or will we use humans in some capacity as we do on earth? Personally, I can’t see humans in spacesuits using picks and shovels, can you? It seems to me the only way to go is robotic mining. It just seems more practical. Humans still might be in the loop depending upon the type of robotic mining used. For example, will it be the type where humans are controlling the robotic machines using a computer which is located perhaps on earth or the moon? If this is the case, I don’t think it would work very well because of the delay time which would be experienced between instructions. What does this leave us with? The indication to me is either we will have to use autonomous robot mining or discover a way to send and receive signals which are instantaneous. We know about quantum entanglement, that is when one particle is altered and another particle with which it is entangled changes instantly without any regard for distance. Perhaps this can be used in some way to send signals. Without this robot machines will have to be programmed to operate on their own. Autonomous robot mining machines are being talked about a lot lately and it is not just about using them in space. There are many places on the earth where human miners cannot go. One place which has been talked about constantly is the ocean floor where the pressure may be so much it would crush a human. It’s not only the pressure however, it is also the low visibility, and even if humans could reach some of these really deep places, they would have to be wearing tremendously awkward suits which would hamper their ability to move around and perform mining and these suits might prevent it entirely. The farming industry has shown robotic machines are practical. Many of the big machines one sees on a farm, don’t need human drivers when they bring in the crops. A simple GPS is monitored by their computer to make sure they stay within the farmers land. They go up and down his feels without any help from humans until everything is gathered in. Not every farmer uses this type of machine, many still use one which requires them to drive. One of the offshoots of using machines to mine, is it saves lives. I’m sure every one of us has seen news clips of miners being trapped, or of them getting black lung disease. There are also physical injuries, because mining is dangerous. The robotic mining revolution is already taking place and making these robots ready to operate in space probably won’t be a problem because will have worked all the kinks out of them right here. As I said, one of the big strategic problems will be how do we transport the ore back to earth? We don’t even know at this point if that will be how things are handled. There are several options available. One option is sending ships back to earth loaded with ore. This might be the most expensive option. Another option might be building a processing plant on the moon. This could have its advantages since gravity is so much lower on the moon than the earth, making it easier for our spaceships, thus saving fuel which in turn lowers the cost. There is another choice however, and that is if we are on a big asteroid which could produce ore for many years, it might pay to build a robotic factory to process the ore right there and we could even take this a step further in that we might want to put robotic factories on the asteroid which will make a product using this ore. I’m sure there are other choices which I haven’t even thought of. There is no doubt the age of robotic machines capable of mining ore without a human presence is almost upon us. Many minerals which have become very expensive on the earth and rare, might be found on asteroids and in greater quantities. One has to wonder what effect this will have on the price of a finished product made with much cheaper minerals. We also have to wonder what political changes this could cause. For example, China has a lock on rare earth minerals today, but will they have the same lock on them in the future? The United States has already said they are going to look for rare earth minerals here. If they are also looking for them in space and find a large supply of them this might break China’s stranglehold on rare earth elements. The United States won’t be the only country trying to mine asteroids although we probably have a big lead in that area. I am sure China will want to do that also. Russia has a problem because their national budget may not be able to support such a venture. Other countries might have to prioritize their spending and limit, or do away with certain types of funding so they can put more funds into space exploration and mining. It’s a sticky problem for many of the countries of the world since so much money has to be put into it before any return will be realized. Great Britain can’t be counted out, but they might have to eliminate a lot of other programs before they could fund a space mining program. One way countries would a smaller economy might be able to get space mining on the road is by joining forces. In essence that is what the European Union is about. Well I’m not talking about space mining in this instance, I’m talking about banding together and basically the European Union is a group of European countries who did just that, so if they decide to get into the business of space mining, the cost is already spread among the members so many countries which could never afford to do this on their own would be part of a program no problem. That is no problem spreading the cost out, not no problem succeeding in the space venture although I believe they would eventually succeed.
|
