People hold different views on whether it is worthwhile to explore space for minerals. This essay discusses both the merits and drawbacks of this phenomenon, and then I will give my own perspective.
Many believe there are benefits of commercial space mining. The first of these is that it will deal with scarce minerals problems on Earth. The mineral resources on Earth are limited and becoming exhausted due to overmining while there are humongous quantities of scarce materials not owned by anyone in outer space. For example, visionaries including Jeff Bezos imagine heavy industry moving to space and Earth becoming a residential area. Moreover, exploring space for mining can bring potential economical advantage. Private corporations can utilize these unlimited resources to develop heavy industry in space which can bring in a large source of revenue.
However, there are also downsides of space mining. The most significant is that the rise of space junk and satellites can lead to threatening collisions. The increase of celestial mining accelerates the growth of space junk, space debris and satellite mega constellations, which gives rise to collisions between extraterrestrial objects. For instance, SpaceX’s Starlinks are increasingly crowding orbits and threatening collisions. Another disadvantage is that it is costly. Public and private investors will need to spend an amount of money on testing plans in environments, research on mining machines in space or out-of-space operations costs.
In conclusion, I believe both arguments have their merits. However, I believe that people should research different minerals in space. This is because space mining will deal with scarce minerals issues and bring economic benefits.