Metals for batteries extracted from asteroids, a business with great economic potential

The batteries face an unpredictable price fluctuation due to fluctuations in the market for the metals that compose them. On several occasions, the increase in the costs of these materials has altered market trends, making it difficult for manufacturers to implement solid strategies for the future.

There are six most important materials that make up batteries: lithium, nickel, cobalt, aluminum, copper and manganese. Each of these six metals has part of the responsibility in the final price of the set. Therefore, with an eye on a market that moves millions of euros, the search for metals beyond the earth’s crust It is a business that is already in the sights of some companies.

Who will exploit this market?

The search for metals in asteroids is a relatively new field in space exploration, but it has been the subject of interest for decades. Already in 1960 The idea of ​​asteroid mining began to gain attention. In the 1980s, scientist Gerard K. O’Neill proposed the idea of ​​building space colonies using materials extracted from asteroids. Nowadays, with the advancement of space technology and robotic exploration, they have already been launched space missions to study asteroids up close.

The POTthe THAT and other space agencies have sent probes to perform measurements and analysis of the composition of asteroids. Missions such as the NEAR Shoemaker probe, the Dawn mission, and the OSIRIS-REx mission have provided important data on the composition and characteristics of asteroids. They have also been created private businesses with the aim of developing technologies for asteroid mining.

In April 2023, a satellite the size of a microwave was launched into space. Your objective, prepare to mine asteroids. While the mission, courtesy of a company called AstroForgeran into trouble, is the ‘official start’ of a new wave of aspiring miners hoping to profit from cosmic resources.

Asteroid metals

The potential applications for material extracted from asteroids are abundant. They house metals such as platinum, which is used in catalytic converters to reduce gas emissions. He platinum and the iridium They are used in electronics and cobalt in the batteries. Additionally, there are opportunities in green technologies and in the development of platinum-based batteries with improved storage capacities that could be used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

Although these materials are also found on Earth and in some cases there is no shortage of resources, there are environmental concerns that prevent them from being obtained by exploiting terrestrial resources. These considerations are especially relevant when it comes to the extraction necessary to clean energy technologies, such as green hydrogen production, which uses iridium, or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which require platinum. Additionally, certain metals, such as nickel, cobalt, and iron, are more concentrated in asteroids, since, unlike the richest terrestrial deposits, they have not yet been exploited.

Its defenders argue that this practice could reduce environmental impacts of mining on our planet. Additionally, space resources could be used to explore other applications. For example, what if space ice could be used as propellant for spacecraft and rockets? Or what if lunar regolith could be used to build habitable structures for astronauts and protect them against radiation?

Where are these metals and whose do they belong?

Much of the efforts go through the Moon where the advanced bases would be established. He proposes building base camps for astronauts in the next decade, while China hopes to establish an international lunar research station.

He economic context has improved compared to the 2010s due to the reduction in rocket launch costs. He has also done it regulatory environment, with several countries enacting specific laws allowing space mining. Currently, Japanthe United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg and USA They have laws that guarantee the rights of their companies and countries to possess space material.

The United States has established the Artemis Accords, a set of best practices for behavior on the Moon. Other nations have signed on to these principles, which include ensuring that lunar mining activities are aligned with the Space Treaty Ultraterrestrial from 1967the main international law regulating space exploration, including mining, even though it was enacted long before space mining was practically possible.

The Outer Space Treaty does not prohibit space mining, but lays down some ground rules. It does not allow you to take over an asteroid simply by landing on it, but the extracted materials do become your property. Furthermore, the treaty establishes that nations are responsible of the activities of their private companies and that these activities must benefit humanity.

That legal framework leaves many questions unanswered, such as how to carry out mining responsibly. It will probably be tested with what is considered the first symbolic strike, not against asteroids, but against the Moon, since that is where humans are prepared to take their next small steps.