Asteroid mining

Asteroid mining is the hypothetical and technically possible extraction of materials from asteroids and other minor planets, including near-Earth objects.

Research missions focused on asteroid sample return, including Hayabusa, Hayabusa2, OSIRIS-REx, and Tianwen-2, illustrate the challenges of collecting ore from space using current technology. As of 2024, around 127 grams of asteroid material have been successfully brought to Earth from space. Asteroid research missions are complex endeavors that yield a tiny amount of material: less than 100 milligrams for Hayabusa, 5.4 grams for Hayabusa2, and approximately 121.6 grams for OSIRIS-REx, with Tianwen-2 mission currently ongoing. These figures are comparatively negligible when considering the substantial investments and resources allocated to these projects ($300 million for Hayabusa, $800 million for Hayabusa2, $1.16 billion for OSIRIS-REx and $70 million for Tianwen-2).

Notable asteroid mining challenges include the high cost of spaceflight, unreliable identification of asteroids that are suitable for mining, and the challenges of extracting usable material in a space environment.

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