However, entrepreneurs who wish to pursue this initiative are emerging. Google
cofounder Larry Page backed Planetary Resources, while billionaire Ross Perot
founded Deep Space Industries, to mine asteroids and extract valuable minerals.
The two companies have so far raised a few tens of millions in funding and hope
to launch by 2030 the first probes equipped with special sensors for the spectrographic analysis of asteroid soil.
The technological complexities are challenging. Landing on an asteroid could
be a hard task. For instance, ESA launched in 2004 a small automatic probe,
Philae,
33
to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and deploy a small
lander on it. The lander managed with great difficulty to land on the comet nucleus,
far from the expected landing site after several huge bounces.
34
Finally, ground
controllers managed to activate the on-board drill to perforate the soil and analyze
it,
35
but soon the system stopped functioning. The problems encountered
36
during
this mission still raise questions about all the engineering challenges yet to be
solved for such space operations.
Legal issues could also emerge for the mining operations on cosmic bodies,
since the only international treaty on the use of extraterrestrial resources dates
back to 1967 and stipulates that these can be exploited only “for the benefit of
humankind and avoiding harmful contamination”.
37
In theory, these regulations
could represent a barrier for a private company with commercial purposes. But
since such a situation may not materialize until the second half of the century, any
disputes between lawyers remain postponed. Certainly, the turning point for any
real initiative can only be achieved when private space transportation systems
become more reliable and almost ordinary, and when new and innovative robotic
technologies equipped with artificial intelligence are tested and operated in space.
Instead of reaching celestial bodies millions of miles away to exploit extraterrestrial resources, humankind could also go not too far from its planet, where there
are natural, even unlimited resources. In the twenty-first century, terrestrial and
space energy will be key in reducing the carbon economy and encouraging revolutionary commercial initiatives. One of the most stimulating space projects in the
Space Economy 2.0 is the exploitation of solar energy, wherein space systems in
orbit are equipped with photovoltaic cells and are capable of sending the energy
back to Earth.
33
Wall, Mike. 2014. European Probe Survived Comet Landing with Luck and Great Design.
Space.com.
34
https://www.space.com/27767-philae-comet-landing-nearly-failed-infographic.html.
35
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/19/did-philae-drill-the-comet/.
36
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/13/rosetta-philae-comet-mission-whatwent-right-what-went-wrong-and-how-it-can-be-fixed.
37
https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html.
Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad 91
cofounder Larry Page backed Planetary Resources, while billionaire Ross Perot
founded Deep Space Industries, to mine asteroids and extract valuable minerals.
The two companies have so far raised a few tens of millions in funding and hope
to launch by 2030 the first probes equipped with special sensors for the spectrographic analysis of asteroid soil.
The technological complexities are challenging. Landing on an asteroid could
be a hard task. For instance, ESA launched in 2004 a small automatic probe,
Philae,
33
to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and deploy a small
lander on it. The lander managed with great difficulty to land on the comet nucleus,
far from the expected landing site after several huge bounces.
34
Finally, ground
controllers managed to activate the on-board drill to perforate the soil and analyze
it,
35
but soon the system stopped functioning. The problems encountered
36
during
this mission still raise questions about all the engineering challenges yet to be
solved for such space operations.
Legal issues could also emerge for the mining operations on cosmic bodies,
since the only international treaty on the use of extraterrestrial resources dates
back to 1967 and stipulates that these can be exploited only “for the benefit of
humankind and avoiding harmful contamination”.
37
In theory, these regulations
could represent a barrier for a private company with commercial purposes. But
since such a situation may not materialize until the second half of the century, any
disputes between lawyers remain postponed. Certainly, the turning point for any
real initiative can only be achieved when private space transportation systems
become more reliable and almost ordinary, and when new and innovative robotic
technologies equipped with artificial intelligence are tested and operated in space.
Instead of reaching celestial bodies millions of miles away to exploit extraterrestrial resources, humankind could also go not too far from its planet, where there
are natural, even unlimited resources. In the twenty-first century, terrestrial and
space energy will be key in reducing the carbon economy and encouraging revolutionary commercial initiatives. One of the most stimulating space projects in the
Space Economy 2.0 is the exploitation of solar energy, wherein space systems in
orbit are equipped with photovoltaic cells and are capable of sending the energy
back to Earth.
33
Wall, Mike. 2014. European Probe Survived Comet Landing with Luck and Great Design.
Space.com.
34
https://www.space.com/27767-philae-comet-landing-nearly-failed-infographic.html.
35
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/19/did-philae-drill-the-comet/.
36
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/13/rosetta-philae-comet-mission-whatwent-right-what-went-wrong-and-how-it-can-be-fixed.
37
https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html.
Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad 91