One way to get the metals back would be to mine them on Eros and send the refined iron back to Earth. Secondly, the resources are way out in space.īut in the week we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first footprint on the Moon can we not contemplate mining what is just another big chunk of rock in space? Since it contains a lot of rare elements and metals that are of use in the semiconductor industry for example, at today's prices Eros is worth more than $20,000bn.īut there are two problems with this analysis.įirstly, such a dramatic influx of metals to Earth could crash the global market for such commodities. Platinum is even more expensive, $350 per oz. It means the value of the gold in asteroid Eros is about $1,000bn. How much is Eros worth? Today's trading price for gold is about $250 per ounce or about $9m per tonne. There are thousands of asteroids out there. That is just in one asteroid and not a very large one at that. In the 2,900 cubic kms of Eros, there is more aluminium, gold, silver, zinc and other base and precious metals than have ever been excavated in history or indeed, could ever be excavated from the upper layers of the Earth's crust. With the known abundance's of metals in meteorites, even a very cautious estimate suggests 20,000 million tonnes of aluminium along with similar amounts of gold, platinum and other rarer metals.Ĭontrollers briefly lost contact with the Near craft If Eros is typical of stony meteorites, then it contains about 3% metal. That means Eros is a goldmine in space, as well as a platinum mine, a zinc mine and many more minerals besides. Its composition appears to be similar to the stony meteorites that frequently fall to Earth.īBC 5Live investigates the Torino Scale, a Richter Scale for meteorites The results are startling.Įros is believed to have been formed from the wreckage of a collision with a larger body. Over a thousand images of Eros were transmitted back to Earth that allowed scientists to estimate its size and mass. Near, which due to a computer malfunction will not be able to go into orbit around Eros until next year, revealed that the asteriod is shaped like a 33 km by 13 km by 13 km banana. The first conclusions from that encounter are now published the journal Science. It provided an unprecedented look at one of the mountains of rock that fly around the solar system. The data were collected last December by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (Near) spacecraft which passed close to the asteroid Eros. The most detailed study of an asteroid shows that it contains precious metals worth at least $20,000bn. Two views of Eros, a prime chunk of real estate in outer spaceīy BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse Thursday, JPublished at 17:54 GMT 18:54 UK BBC News | Sci/Tech | Gold rush in space?
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