Space Mining will become real soon (But not because all the natural resources ran out on Earth)

Shorjoe Bhattacharya
2 min readMay 22, 2022
Source — https://singularityhub.com/2018/09/27/first-ever-grad-program-in-space-mining-takes-off/

Mining companies are at a crossroads.

To keep looking for pockets of land that can be stripped of their resources and sold or to look outside. The world has started eyeballing miners really closely and this is making it harder and costlier to do what they have always done.

The rise of Mobile & Instant Video Distribution has made it easy to show Trees being chopped down

Social Media has given massive “power” to activists.

It has become more expensive to mine because of all the time and money that is lost — creating messages against activists and tracking down who is funding them. Soon, this process will become more expensive than the mining process itself which is dropping in cost to the deflationary nature of technology.

Demand for resources will exist, but it may be time to look elsewhere for the supply.

The Cost barrier for Asteroid Mining is reducing due to re-usable Rockets

Rockets like Starship 2.0 will bring down launch costs by 31X to $2 M and handle payloads of 800 tons (The highest ariel payload).

The frequency of rocket launches is at an all-time high with SpaceX launching a rocket every 7 days and boosters being ready in 21 days to go back up. We are at a point where massive rockets will soon be able to go and bring back resources from asteroids.

The transport part of the space mining problem will be resolved soon.

Big Mining Partners with Big Space

Companies like Glencore with their $200 Billion revenue have the muscle to bring in rocket partners who are thirsty for utilization.

It’s time to merge Glencore’s resource discovery and material moving strengths with SpaceX’s re-usable rocketry capabilities. This partnership benefits both as SpaceX’s customer base grows and Glencore uses its muscle to set up the first Space Mining Operation.

Anyone who wields social media effectively can bring unimaginable change across mega industries.

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Shorjoe Bhattacharya

Tech History Nerd |Unpacks Transformative Tech Trends| Global-View 6+ years in Tech & Logistics in US/India/China