The Case Against Mining Space

Space exploration has been a goal that humans have pursued more actively since the 1960s. After all that has been achieved, it begs the question, what if we can take a bit of it back to Earth? If we could mine some of it and research it thoroughly to see if it’s useful to us. Would it solve problems here that we have been trying to resolve for decades? Mining various celestial bodies can be great. It allows us to learn about elements and resources that aren’t available to us on Earth. However, along with these benefits, mining also raises several concerns.

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With space mining, you have to think about whether it is even morally ok? The Artemis Accords did permit it, so it should be ok, right? Well, humans have a history of exploiting goods. Take the Gold Rush, for example, 750,000 pounds of gold were mined in only 7 years. Who’s to say that the same thing won’t happen with space mining? If we were to continue old habits in space, we could affect how future generations explore space as well. These resources aren’t distributed either, despite the Outer Space Treaty saying otherwise. This is causing more countries to want to space mine just to find the same things other countries did. Keeping all of that in mind, creating rules specifically for space mining in the future could solve these issues, but there is more that could be wrong with this topic.

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There are so many regulations that countries have agreed to abide by. Even though no popular treaty has stated that it isn’t allowed, there are still many things that could go wrong at a legal level. For example, people have wanted to achieve space exploration to compete with other countries before, like the Space Race. This entails that countries may mine parts of space that they don’t even need to mine solely to one-up other countries. Additionally, doesn't space mining go directly against the Outer Space Treaty? Yes, the Artemis Accords allows it, but the Outer Space Treaty states, “outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty.”  However, countries claim space by breaking it off. 

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The celestial bodies that humans can reach are precious and limited. Mining it could deteriorate the little amount that we do get to see by causing space debris and altering its natural state. Space debris is simply space junk that is caught in Earth’s orbit. The more we mine closer to Earth, with bodies like asteroids, the more likely it is for debris to get caught in orbit. That, in itself, causes a plethora of problems and may deteriorate our LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites. Space mining can alter the celestial body’s natural state. Over time, the body could have a different composition, trajectory, and surface conditions. This causes havoc in space, such as atmospheric changes, alteration in internal structure, and can even set the body on a collision course.

It is very necessary to ensure that countries have money for their people. It is the government's job not to let the economy crash for the sake of the citizens. Neither relying on the trade of celestial objects nor spending the money on mining objects in space won’t help the countries’ citizens. This may not be a problem that countries have to worry about right now; however, in the future, it is necessary that they are aware of the consequences. Countries can get caught in selling materials like Helium-3, which is a rare gas on Earth and found more in space. Helium-3 costs approximately $2,500 per liter. As well as rhodium, which is currently priced at $183,000 per kilogram. Countries can become broke if they can’t go to space and are dependent on these resources. Not to mention the costs to go up into space to mine, with past missions costing over $1 billion just to return with a little bit of material. A full-scale operation is predicted to cost in the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. It is not worth that much money to go and ruin our solar system.

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Space mining is an idea of the future. No one has been able to go on a full-scale operation yet and probably won’t for a long time. According to Interesting Engineering, it won't be commercialized for at least another two to three decades. However, keeping all of these cons in mind, commercializing space may not be the best idea.

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Without any regulations on space mining in the future, it could raise many ethical, legal, environmental, and economic concerns. If it gets to a certain point, humans may not even be able to use space as a resource. So how can we stop this from happening? Before full-scale operations are introduced to the space field, it is imperative that regulations are set in place to avoid the concerns previously mentioned. Some of which may be that findings and resources will be shared with all countries, perhaps a country, and only mine a certain amount each year to avoid extensive damage. By creating a safe way to research and hold space in the palm of our hand, we can learn more about it safely as a planet and not just as a country.