Community Corner

Mining Asteroids for Gold — A Promising Mission or a Potential 'Black Hole'?

A company that plans to mine asteroids for gold, platinum and other minerals is looking for investors.

It might sound like the premise for a futuristic novel, but it's not. 

The company Deep Space Industries has announced plans to launch fleet of micro-satellites to explore potential asteroid mining sites. Once identified, the company intends to deploy larger spaceships to harness those asteroids and drag them back to Earth for mining and processing.

"The resource potential of space outstrips that of any previous frontier — without the environmental impacts," the company's website reads

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According to Fox News, investors are skeptical. 

"... Deep Space Industries lacks the deep pockets needed to reach for the stars, and fiscal needs may be a bigger challenge than technical ones," Jeremy Kaplan writes for the news outlet.

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According to the report, Deep Space Industries joins at least a dozen companies aiming to mine the moon. Another company, Planetary Resources Inc., announced a plan in April to also mine asteroids and is backed by Google executives.

What do you think about these ventures — is there gold in them thar rocks? What about mining the moon? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

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