Projects to exploit mineral resources on asteroids, launched and implemented in the past time, have led to a lively debate around the topic of space exploration and how humans use space to recover. human civilization, while highlighting a central issue of our planet’s resource crisis.
Samples collected by Japan’s Hayabusa-2 probe. Pour mining money in space According to Florian Vidal (researcher at the French Institute of International Relations) and Professor of Physics José Halloy, the acceleration of ecological transition to combat climate change has led to a sharp increase in mineral demand. to service supposedly zero-carbon technologies as well as to maintain existing or newly built infrastructure. While projects to exploit mineral resources are being replicated on Earth, many “new fronts” are also being considered, such as mining in space. Typically, in 2016, the world’s media buzzed with the daring project of exploiting mineral resources on asteroids of the US companies Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries. When Planetary Resources entered the space industry in the early 2010s, the company’s leaders were ambitious and promised to enter a new stage in the conquest of space with mining. on asteroids. Since 2012, the company’s project has attracted many private investors such as Larry Page and Éric Schmidt – the heads of Google Corporation, and filmmaker James Cameron. Excitement and enthusiasm for the field of space mining from the US has crossed the Atlantic Ocean and spread to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In addition to adapting national legislation, Luxembourg’s diplomatic service has also been mobilized to facilitate the development of an area considered by the government to be strategic. By the summer of 2016, the State of Luxembourg, through the National Corporation for Credit and Investment (SNCI), spent 12 million euros to buy a 10% stake in the American company Planetary Resources. However, two years later, this partnership was broken. When the American company ran into financial difficulties, the Luxembourg government sold their shares at a symbolic price. However, Luxembourg’s participation in the space mineral exploration project has given them an international position to connect the fields of investment and invention and invention. Continuing the policy in this area, Luxembourg later continued to participate in NASA’s Artemis project to return humans to the moon. Japan, another member of the Artemis project, is also interested in the scientific study of the composition of asteroids, which is a step towards exploring potential mineral resources in space. In December 2020, Japan’s Hayabusa-2 space probe returned to Earth after a six-year mission past the asteroid Ryugu. The goal of this science mission was to prove Ryugu could have the primordial components of the solar system, and Hayabusa-2 accomplished the engineering feat of collecting 5.4 grams of matter from Ryugu at a cost 16.4 billion yen (126 million euros). Similarly, on October 20, 2020, Osiris-Rex (a NASA space probe) also performed a 6-second landing mission on asteroid Bennu to collect dust samples (regolith). Osiris-Rex is expected to return to Earth in 2023 with the collected dust sample. The cost of this mission is about $800 million and about $183.5 million for the Atlas V rocket. Perspectives under the sea To cope with the world’s growing mineral demand, undersea mining is often seen as a solution due to the vastness of this space. Among the countries interested in undersea mining is Norway. After 3 years of seabed exploration, making the Nordic country a leader in this new mining industry, in January 2021, the Norwegian Ministry of Oil and Energy announced the possibility of issuing a license from 2023. Mining permits are available to interested businesses, such as allowing Nordic Mining ASA’s Nordic Ocean Resources AS to exploit deep seabeds rich in copper, zinc, cobalt, gold and silver ores. According to many estimates, there is 6.9 million tons of copper on the Norwegian continental shelf. Japan also has similar plans, with the ability to start exploiting the seabed from 2026. In Canada, DeepGreen (based in Vancouver) in 2019 announced to raise an investment of 150 million. USD to begin exploration for mineral resources in a part of the Pacific Ocean. This is a sign of growing confidence in the industry’s future. However, mining depends primarily on the market price of the metal and the reduction in the cost of mining in the marine environment. The consequences of fishing for marine ecosystems are also of great concern. Scientists warn against switching too quickly from exploration to exploitation because humans still have little understanding of the vast undersea environment and life on the seabed. Controversy over regulations The development of mining activities in the new “fronts” mentioned above also poses the need for appropriate regulations to adjust. This is also what the leaders of the countries have seen. Typically, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has spent many years drafting a Code for Future Undersea Mining – an indispensable tool for monitoring possible mining activities. deployed. Regulating is considered vital to seabed mining in deep waters such as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) which extends from the Hawaiian Islands to the Baja California peninsula and lies on the road. fault of the Pacific Ocean. This vast area is believed to have reserves of 247 million tons of nickel and 226 million tons of copper. However, many studies have shown that hidden in these spaces is a unique biodiversity and their density is reinforced by the presence of multi-needle nodules located at a depth of 4-5 km. Currently, the debate over regulations for these activities is still raging. While the International Seabed Authority recommends a gradual adjustment of regulations on a step-by-step basis when there are actors involved in seabed mining, it is also argued that such a gradual adjustment is slow. Slow, follow reality. Some argue that it will be difficult to modify the rules of conduct once mining has started. Experts say that although the exploitation of the ocean floor does not fully compensate for the activities taking place on land, it is a necessary additional source to meet future needs. But, as with space, deep-sea mining initiatives are posing dilemmas about extracting resources in increasingly remote regions. All opinions are that, whether on land or at sea, the conservation of ecological balance is a criterion to consider mining projects.
You must log in to post a comment.