From the drone races we turn our attention towards another competition that is happening deep in space.
Scientists know that in many of the asteroids circling between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter as well as other places in the universe can be found huge amounts of precious metals. Gold, platinum, iron and other materials can be found on the wandering rocks. Especially on their surface, which makes them far more accessible than it is on Earth. The reason is that there, they are not submitted to gravity which pushed them deep beneath the surface on Earth.
Researches show that access to only few of the asteroids may lead to serious cataclysms in the market for precious metals and to global economic changes. This would probably help in the reduction of prices for calculating technology and make it easier for mankind to colonise the Solar System, because the materials that are needed for the construction of colonies on distant planets can be found nearby and won't need to be transported from Earth.
Some companies seem determined to find a way to extract the resources from the space rocks. From this month they are one step closer to achieving that plan, because in the USA was adopted a new law, called "Space Launch Competitiveness Act", which regulates the excavation of precious metals in space.
The document which is first of its kind will probably be followed by similar laws in other countries. That will lead to international regulation of the sector. The only existing international document on the matter is the Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 by more than a hundred countries, but leave lots of space for interpretation about the assimilation of resources.
After the recent sucess of the tests of the new rockets of the companies Space X, owned by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin it looks like interesting times are about to come for the private companies and the riches of the asteroid belt are going to be one of their targets.
Коментари
Моля, регистрирайте се от TУК!
Ако вече имате регистрация, натиснете ТУК!
Няма коментари към тази новина !
Последни коментари