By Zal Dholoo, November 22, 2023—
As resource extraction causes more and more damage to the environment, some are turning to the stars to find vital materials. Recent developments in space fairing technology, such as the deployment of ion thrusters and laser light communications on the Psyche spacecraft, have made space travel beyond the Moon more accessible. The possibility of creating a spacecraft that can not only reach celestial bodies but also return with material is increasing.
The first such mission involving the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) was OSIRIS-REx. The spacecraft travels to an asteroid near Earth, Regolith sample 70.3 g, a sand-like debris found on the surface of an asteroid.Instead Financing and building a laser altimeter On the spacecraft, CSA will have the opportunity to conduct tests on some of the samples.
Feasibility study conducted in 2019shows that mining the most readily available resource in the universe, found on near-Earth asteroids, using a large number of spacecraft carrying 100 kg of liquid payload, will only start to turn a profit after five years. Suggests. Like much of this type of research, this study relies on technological developments such as using water as fuel. Although there are still questions about the feasibility of resource extraction in space, it can be done. OSIRIS-REx’s payload of just 70.3 g represents the largest mass ever brought back from an asteroid, but it’s far from the mass needed to make space mining profitable.
Profit need not be the only motivation for space mining, as it may become increasingly difficult to mine finite resources on Earth and require searching for resources elsewhere.However Current research suggests that Although our demand capacity has not yet exceeded the earth’s resources, continued extraction of resources could be prohibitively harmful to the environment.
The microgravity environment of space is also particularly suitable for additive manufacturing, the formal term for 3D printing. In theory, microgravity means that the structures being manufactured do not need to be manufactured using supporting materials. 3D printer on the International Space Station They seem to be creating products that are as good or better than those manufactured on Earth. Once microgravity manufacturing matures enough, it may prove cheaper to manufacture materials extracted in space or to support operations in space.
Canada has: Half of the world’s listed companies Mining companies and extractive industries 6th largest contributor Canada is uniquely poised to become the largest contributor to resource extraction in space.
Being irrevocably tied to the resource industry is not necessarily a positive thing for a company. the promised country Reduce dependence on extractive industries. Ideally, extraction in space would cause minimal harm to the environment on Earth, but here are the environmental impacts of launching into space: still little known.
Space mining faces many technical challenges, and without the success of inventions and various new technologies, costs would be prohibitive. That need is likely to grow even more as resource extraction on Earth becomes increasingly prohibitive, and when combined with the potential benefits of manufacturing in space, it becomes possible to move resource extraction off-Earth. It may become more and more desirable. Canada is uniquely positioned as one of the leading nations in terrestrial resource extraction and has the opportunity to be a pioneer in extraplanetary resource extraction.
