Why Asteroid Mining could be profitable and it needs to start in the Northern Territory!

I am write this as a piece to convince you (the reader) why it is essential that Australia invests into the space industry. The main points positives of investing into the space industry is, the benefits it will bring to society in jobs, education and new sources of income. The benefits of asteroid mining and the potential income potentially made with just getting minor amounts of the asteroid would be nothing like the world has ever seen. More sources of income would be from launching satellites and advancing technological and military equipment. To unlock this emerging market, it requires funding from the Australian government.

(Fig. 1, Smart Company 2017)

Firstly, we must investigate the overall social benefits society will reap from the funding a space program. A major factor would be boosting the economy. The problem in Australia is the economy edging time and time again with recession, (Lorkin J, 2019) with little benefits or respite forecasted. But there is one industry with potential opportunities: Space. The last frontier. To begin such a project would require funding to the Australian Space Agency, having the headquarters in Alice Springs. Alice Springs is it the most secure place to locate a new HQ, with only three roads to get out of the town and an airport. Alice Springs is close to the tropic of Capricorn and already has available infrastructure for such an endeavour. At a security standpoint that creates an easy place to protect the base of Australian Space Agency. There would be more scientific jobs, operating jobs and manufacturing jobs. The technology to develop and produce would be the creation of flight tools, cameras, parachutes, safety equipment and scientific tools which would need to be produced, leading to many new manufacturing jobs. (Marconi E, 2006) There are already steps in process, like Australia’s first Arnhem Space Centre, but this is the first in many steps that are needed to boost Australian Space endeavours. (Marks. L, 2019)

A source of income could be meteorites that have already landed on earth, that are proven to have high rates of Platinum Nickel, that can have anywhere to 64 kg per meter. (G.Lindsey, n.d). The amount of rare earths that could be found if we extract a single asteroid; how much Australian businesses could make. And we must utilise every meteor that lands in Australia. That is worth around $848 per Troy Ounce, and an asteroid called 2011 UW158, that passed earth in 2015 was worth around $5.14 Trillion. Just one mission to one of these asteroids could easily pay all the effort off, from only getting a small fraction of the minerals off the asteroid due to the high density of the rare metals. (RT International, 2015).

To reach the asteroids to begin potential mining, we must first observe the asteroids in our solar system. The Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which is the home to hundreds of thousands of asteroids, mainly C-type of asteroids consisting mostly of Carbon, but there other two types, S which has lots of potential nickel-iron, which dominate the inner asteroid belt. (Redd N, 2017). Then there is Type M, which visually are very bright and are composed of pure nickel-iron. Found in the middle region of the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter.

(Fig 2, Redd N 2017)

Rocket launches for deploying satellites itself is another worthwhile endeavour, companies like ‘Orbital’ is one of the only companies to thrive in the space industry. Being a carrier for NASA to the ISS, and Space X which is becoming a potential newcomer. Which already has a sustainable income source from NASA, offering the service of deploying satellites. (Yale Insights, 2011). Many GPS companies and Mobile companies using satellites need to deploy their satellites, but don’t have the capital to launch these themselves, so they use Space X and Orbital to accomplish this. With minimal competition this is a perfect time to create a cheap yet profitable system of sending satellites into space. (Smith. R, 2016). This will create new sources of income, so Australia relies less of our exports to foreign nations. (Atlas Media. 2019). This is an expanding industry which is becoming a profitable business endeavour. This new business opening is valued around $250 Billion for satellites alone. (Smart Company 2017). To best create a sustainable income would be deploying satellites for private companies.

Military Space Satellites, while these may not be as profitable for security reasons, is an opportune moment for the Australian military to advance significantly militarily. The importance of NASA to the United States National security, gives the US a cutting edge in military technology, however the two organisations and separated by law in aid to separate NASA for scientific discoveries. However, the scientific advancements about GPS and drone capabilities is something the Australian Defence Force needs to keep up with our neighbours. (Olesan. G 2012).

Australia has seen a decrease in interest for space discoveries, with growing disinterest in STEM courses at major universities. As our civilisations become more dependent on technology, if we don’t create jobs to accommodate this, we will have severe unemployment in the future. To prevent this, we need to energise the youth, an Australian Space Agency that promises men on mars or to make it rich in asteroid mining, that will be how the government can inspire a whole generation of new scientists. (Olesan. G 2012) Science scores in schools have been slipping and to make students even want to continue doing sciences at universities would require potential careers, jobs and money as incentives. (Calagha. G, 2018)

In conclusion, the space industry is a possible profitable venture, but requires government spending. It is essential for our military to continue gathering cutting edge technology. For our mining companies to prosper once our minerals have all been dug out. It would require space technology to continue mining. To ensure our youth remain inspired to pursue STEM courses we need potential career paths in Australia. To create new industries that launch satellites in Alice to revitalise the NT economy, for all this to start we require more funding to the Australian Space Agency.

This is all speculation but to energise people and politicians to try something new!

Bibliography: (I think articles need to have references to gain credibility as too many articles now don’t actually have facts to prove their point)

1. Marks, L. (2019). ‘First launch 2018’: NT land sub-leased for commercial space base. [online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-28/australias-first-commercial-space-base-one-step-closer-nt-land/9201660 [Accessed 20 Mar. 2019].

2. Business.nt.gov.au. (2018). Launching into Australia’s space industry — Department of Trade, Business and Innovation. [online] Available at: https://business.nt.gov.au/news/2018/launching-into-australias-space-industry [Accessed 20 Mar. 2019].

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10. RT International. (2015). ‘Platinum’ asteroid potentially worth $5.4 trillion to pass Earth on Sunday. [online] Available at: https://www.rt.com/news/310170-platinum-asteroid-2011-uw-158/ [Accessed 1 Apr. 2019].

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