Tobacco, spices, tea, chocolate, coffee, sugar. And then there were luxury goods of little intrinsic value, but which rich Europeans could now afford with all the money they made from the slaves they needed to work the land they stole: Inca gold, Aztec silver, furs, indigo…. And of course there were naval stores (wood, hemp, pine tar, and cotton) they needed to maintain the fleets they needed to secure their sources and markets.

Clearly we are many decades away from being able to extract raw metals and minerals from an asteroid and bring it to earth in an economical and profitable way. Especially an asteroid in the belt. It might really depend on the advancements in space propulsion, AI, robotics, 3D printing, etc. If we can send machines out there that can set up shop, use in-situ resources to develop what they need to extract, and possibly even process, resources that can then be safely sent back to earth it could be feasible.

With the right technology, the sky is literally NOT the limit!

The only “stuff” worth mining in space, from a strictly commercial point of view, would be scientific knowledge. If an asteroid or comet had an alien base or shipwreck, or hosted some exotic lifeform, or contained a miniature black hole, THEN it might be worthwhile going there, no matter the cost.

Ask Podrock, our resident geologist. He has remarked here often that even here on earth, where mining, refining and transport is much, much cheaper, that many rich mineral deposits are never developed because the cost of extraction and removal exceeds the value of the ore.

This asteroid mining fantasy is a scam concocted by geek entrepreneurs to get Federal and private investment to finance their space hobby. Its the old Werner von Braun trick; “Pay for my space travel fantasy and I’ll win the war for you.” The only way this lunatic scheme makes sense is if the mined commodity can be used in space by colonists so it doesn’t have to be hauled back to earth. It must also be in a highly refined state, almost ready-to-use, not a low-grade ore. It also demands that the target body has been thoroughly surveyed and assayed so we can show up with precisely the equipment and skills needed to develop the resource. I expect prospecting in space will be even more expensive than mining! Even so, we have no experience doing any of this, it will take a long and expensive learning curve to acquire it.

Technology cannot solve all our problems. Even if a scheme is scientifically possible, it often demands obscene amounts of energy and extravagant amounts of money. We probably couldn’t build the Panama Canal today, we’d never be able to secure the financing.

AstroForge, Asteroid Mining Corporation (AMC), TransAstra, Karman+, Deep Space Industries (DSI)

The Chinese have a go it alone approach with their space station Tiangong, although they have been open to having nations participate who are not involved already with ISS. Docking equipment for their spacecraft and space station are apparently based on APAS (Androgynous Peripheral Attachment System) a Russian-developed docking standard that was used for Shuttle to ISS (and MIR). APAS was the basis for the newer IDSS (international docking system standard) currently used for ISS, which is not fully compatible with China’s docking systems.

The lack of fully compatible docking systems is something that could be overcome with cooperation – Remember the Apollo-Soyuz handshake in space? However, Tiangong and ISS are in different orbital paths which apparently prohibits travel between them. There was a proposal that Tiangong, could be boosted to the same orbit as ISS and be about 100km away, but political reasons have prevented it. Congress passed the Wolf Amendment in 2011, which prohibits NASA from using appropriated funds to collaborate with China on space activities, effectively blocking any cooperation with the ISS program.

Private space stations currently in the works include: Axiom Space Inc.’s Axiom station scheduled to begin initial station parts launch in 2026 and the main station’s launch in 2027. Vast Inc, launching their Haven-1 space station in 2026. Blue Origin planning to build the Orbital Reef for tourism and science with a launch timeline before ISS is retired in 2030. Voyager Space is developing the Starlab space station in partnership with companies like Hilton, with a launch timeline before 2031.

As for a kumbaya “let’s all go together to Mars” program, fat chance. Competition is what drives exploration. European nations didn’t set out exploring the world in partnership. America and China will race each other to the moon and then to Mars. Private corporations will race each other in the same way.

I didn’t realize there was that much redundancy in place. Now all we have to worry about is Trump or Putin going on a political tear and cutting back on their participation and cooperation.

And what about the Chinese? Have they been offered a chance to work with us and the Russians? And if so, are they likely to do so? Maybe they think they don’t need to and are determined to go it alone. They seem to have a solid program, it would be a shame if we didn’t work together on a joint mission, or at least work out procedures for rescue, repair, emergency, backup etc. I don’t even know if the orbits are compatible for flights from one to the other.

I won’t be convinced space is fully in humanity’s future until all three nations are operating independent stations, but have experience in joint operations too. The European ESA needs to start building a station as well.

Who knows, maybe this idea of non-governmental space activity is really starting to finally become a reality. Maybe we should all go to Mars together–a fleet!

In fact, right now is the first time ever that all of ISS’s docking ports are in use.