When most of us read about asteroids getting ready to pass by Earth at an alarmingly close trajectory, we generally like to confirm that it won't be smashing into the planet and then move on with our lives. The folks at Deep Space Industries, however, start seeing dollar signs flash before their eyes.
According to the company's scientists, the asteroid 2012 DA14 scheduled to pass by Earth on Feb. 15 is projected to be worth around $195 billion. They estimate the rock is home to about $65 million of recoverable water, as well as $130 million of resources such as iron and nickel.
"Unfortunately, the path of asteroid 2012 DA14 is tilted relative to Earth, requiring too much energy to chase it down for mining," said DSI's scientists to the Register.
Even if the asteroid's route was appropriate enough for space miners to go after, DSI would have to contend with the inconvenient fact that space miners don't exist. The company is currently in the midst of developing plans to launch spacecraft capable of mining near-Earth asteroids, but it doesn't intend to unleash its first set of ships until 2015.
Even more unfortunate is that Forbes was quick to dump cold water all over the scientists' announcement.
"That $195 billion value rests upon two assumptions," wrote the site's Tim Worstall. "The first, that there are no costs associated with going up there and mining it. The second, they are assuming the value of those materials in space, not the value down here. And they are calculating that value by taking the price on Earth and then adding the cost of boosting it into space."
Since the technology to mine the asteroid doesn't exist, nor does the capacity to use the mined material in space, Worstall concludes the rock is actually worth nothing.
Two years from now (that's... actually not very far off), however, DSI plans to send a set of 55-lb spacecraft called "FireFlies" to scour near-earth territory for asteroids suitable for mining. One year later, a larger fleet of space ships called "DragonFlies" will head towards said asteroids in order to bring back up to 150 lbs of material.
Eventually, the company wants to use its patented 3D printing technology to convert resources extracted in space into usable fuel. Since DSI's printer is said to function in zero gravity, it can potentially perform the entire process in space, paving the way for outposts that can re-fuel rocket ships as they pass by. Think of these outposts as interstellar gas stations; they would remove the need to launch a rocket with all its fuel at the outset, since a ship's "tank" could be refilled throughout the trip.
That asteroid may not be worth anything today, but it could be in just a few short years.
