Next steps for off-Earth mining

We've wrapped up the Off-Earth Mining Forum, hosted here by the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research at the University of New South Wales. After two days of talks by some of the world’s experts, informal discussions stretching late into the evening, worldwide media coverage, and a rousing public lecture on the Curiosity Mars ScienceLaboratory, we have gone our separate ways. Each of us is asking: how can we continue helping this bold venture succeed?

Of course, we still haven't answered the questions many of my friends and the general public are asking: “Does this make any sense? Is this just an unaffordable pipe dream? Aren’t the technologies required just too demanding?” Here's a nice, balanced article in an Australian newspaper, looking at both sides of the coin.

An example I’ve been using to provide a different perspective is the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of the world’s most famous feats of engineering (although perhaps not as photogenic as the Opera House).

(University of New South Wales)

When the First Fleet pulled into Sydney Harbour in 1788, someone like Captain Arthur Phillip might have said, “I say, it would be jolly to have a bridge going over to the north shore.” In fact, architect Francis Greenway proposed it in 1815. But at just over a kilometer, he would have recognized that no contemporary material was up to the task—not wood, not cast iron. A few decades later, Bessemer made high-quality, low-cost steel available. The design of the Harbour Bridge began in 1900, and it was completed in 1932.

A century seems like such a long time—especially to politicians. But in the sweep of human history, it’s a blink. A century from now, there will be a vibrant space infrastructure, which will generate new prosperity for humanity. The health of our own planet's environment will be protected by beaming down energy from orbit. Those of us in the field are building the technological roads that will enable these things.

Another story from Australian history is germane as well. The early settlers learned that there were vast grasslands to the west of the Blue Mountains bounding Sydney. 

 

(Government of New South Wales)

But the Blue Mountains are carpeted by dense, impassable brush and forest. Governor Lachlan Macquarie ordered a road leading west from Sydney—a brutal undertaking, using prisoners as laborers. With its completion, grazing lands for vast herds of sheep and cattle were connected to a port. The wealth of Australia began to multiply exponentially with the cutting of that road.

In addition to our space technology “roads,” we need to build some institutions to support the construction of an interplanetary infrastructure. The terrestrial mining industry is supported by programs at universities, technology conferences, a legal framework, industry associations, and interplay with numerous other sectors of the economy. As an off-Earth economy begins to develop, the same broad base of enabling structures must be developed. 

It should also be noted that off-Earth mining is synergistic with planetary defense--which basically means deflecting asteroids. Some of the early products of the space miners will be small telescopes, to search for good asteroids to mine. Those could well warn us of previously unobserved bodies headed for Earth.


(Associated Press)

Conference attendees noted how timely the Chelyabinsk meteor was for our topic!

 To move forward, we "space miners" will start with baby steps--including creating more superb conferences like this one.