Asteroid Nereus Could Be Mined for Precious Metals Worth Billions

Space mining is an concept that started taking maintain on the flip of the century, and 10 years in the past, it was passionately mentioned. Many argued that area mining might revolutionise the industrial area financial system by using robots and personal astronauts to discover and mine near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for valuable metals and even uncommon earth metals. Since then, nonetheless, there was little noticeable progress. This thought once more made its approach into public discourse this weekend as an NEA — referred to as 4660 Nereus — handed the Earth. Scientists imagine the egg-shaped asteroid with a diameter of 330m holds valuable metals value an estimated $5 billion (roughly Rs. 3.78 lakh crore).

Nereus at no level got here dangerously near Earth. At its closest, it was 3.9 million kilometres away — about 10 occasions the gap between the Earth and the Moon. Scientists say it will once more move by Earth in 39 years from now — and at the moment it could possibly be attainable to launch “space miners” to see how we are able to use these valuable metallic deposits on this asteroid.

According to a report by Asterank, which has a scientific and financial database of over 6 lakh asteroids, Nereus consists of $4.71 billion (roughly Rs. 3.56 lakh crores) value of iron, cobalt, and nickel. But additional analysis after the current flyby will throw extra mild on its traits.

Franck Marchis, chief science officer for Unistellar, which makes digital telescopes, told Forbes that Nereus can be flying only one.2 million kilometres from the Earth in February 2060, when “space miners” might try and land on it. “As a regular guest of our planet, Nereus could play a significant role in the future of space exploration, providing key resources,” mentioned Marchis.

Another matter that value noting is how Nereus’ recurrent flybys have an effect on the Earth’s security. The asteroid has been categorised as “potentially hazardous.” Even when the asteroid passes the Earth in 2060, will probably be 5 occasions the gap between the Earth and the Moon. Objects that come near Earth and are giant sufficient to trigger substantial injury are categorised as “possibly hazardous.” This suggests the hazard that objects like Nereus may cause in future since they cross Earth’s orbit in some unspecified time in the future.