In her BBC article about asteroid mining, Sarah Cruddas asks a vital question: “Would it be worth it?” If we’re not placing any onerous timeframes on such prospecting, the answer, of course, is “yes.” Exploring and colonizing space will require us to build using resources gathered up there, since transporting them is prohibitively expensive. Even more vital than attaining iron for tools is securing a steady supply of H2O. As the author notes, the first water to be extracted from an asteroid will “mark the beginning of new era.” An excerpt:

The first thing to understand about space mining is that it is not only about mining asteroids, or even the Moon and then returning those resources back to Earth. “Instead, there is a lot of value in keeping the resources in space and using them to continue our exploration of the Solar System and beyond,” says Anderson. 

The most important resource for prospective space miners is water. The reason: travelling into space by current standards is the equivalent of taking a road trip across America, but having to bring all your fuel with you – only much worse. It takes more energy to escape the first 300 kilometres from Earth than the next 300 million kilometres. “Once in Earth’s orbit, you are halfway to anywhere in the Solar System,” says Lewicki.

But if rocket fuel was sourced from space for space, that problem can be avoided. When water is broken into its constituents – hydrogen and oxygen – you have two of the most commonly used elements in rocket fuel. What is most exciting for those looking to mine space is that water is throughout our Solar System. It is on the Moon, Mars and asteroids, and that’s just the places we know about.

Asteroids are of particular interest to Planetary Resources. “We know asteroids have water because it has been found on meteorites which have landed on the surface of the Earth,” says Lewicki. “They also don’t need much energy to land on. It’s easier than a trip to the surface of the Moon.” These near-Earth asteroids could act as off-world ‘gas stations’.

And as humans venture beyond Earth orbit, water will be essential for life support and growing food.•