Why are the superpowers racing to exploit minerals in space?

Asteroids rich in precious metals, water ice and lunar soil are valued at billions of dollars, opening a space mining race.

Space mining is a goal pursued by a number of companies around the world. Among them, near-Earth asteroids and the Moon are easily accessible, have rich metal resources and contain many types of economically valuable materials. Photo: Getty.

To be able to exploit resources in meteorites, the American company AstroForge, founded in 2022, is one of the most prominent private companies in the field of space mining after their Brokkr-1 mission tested its refining system in orbit in 2023. Photo: Scitechdaily.

AstroForge's Odin spacecraft, launched in February 2025, was the first commercial deep-space asteroid mission. However, due to communication and navigation problems, the Odin spacecraft was unable to fly by asteroid 2022 OB5 as planned. Photo: Deep Space Industries.

Still, AstroForge sees the mission as a valuable learning experience and is planning a 2026 Vestri mission to refine its method of mining minerals in space. Photo: Factor-Tech Magazine.

Companies’ quest for resources in space has focused on three main groups: metals, volatiles, and exotic isotopes. Among the most valuable targets are platinum-group metals (PGMs). Photo: Bryan Versteeg/Deep Space Industries.

Many asteroids may contain deposits of iron, nickel, platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium and other metals that are rare and expensive to mine on Earth. They are key to the production of air filters, electronics and clean energy technologies. Image: ESA/Foster+Partners.

In particular, some asteroids can contain metal concentrations many times higher than the most abundant ore deposits on Earth, enough to change the global supply chain. Photo: getty.

Another focus of the search is for special isotopes like helium-3, which is found mainly on the Moon. The lunar surface has absorbed helium-3 from the solar wind for billions of years. If fusion using helium-3 becomes a reality, it could provide a safe and nearly limitless source of clean energy compared to current methods. Photo: theconversation.

However, the task of mining, processing and transporting enough materials during the mineral mining process on asteroids faces huge costs and requires a high level of technical expertise. Photo: scitechdaily.

Experts estimate that it will take at least 20-30 years for a space mining program to become commercially viable. Photo: scitechdaily.

Readers are invited to watch the video : Universe map with more than 900,000 stars, galaxies and black holes. Source: THĐT1.

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