Copyright

Sara Russell and Riz Mokal

Published On

2024-04-08

Page Range

pp. 47–56

Language

  • English

Print Length

10 pages

Mines in the Sky

Chapter of: Heavy Metal: Earth’s Minerals and the Future of Sustainable Societies(pp. 47–56)
Though once the subject of science fiction, space mining may one day be economically viable. This contribution explores how essential elements may be more accessible in celestial objects than on the surface of Earth, and discusses the challenges ahead in potentially exploiting these outer space sources of metals. Many asteroids have not undergone differentiation (melting) to form a metal-rich core, and thus retain high metal concentrations on their surface. Other asteroids are thought to represent the residual metal core of a differentiated body, while geological processing on the Moon may have concentrated important rare-earth elements in specific locations. Despite high metal concentrations in these celestial objects, many significant challenges—technical, legal, geopolitical and ethical—will have to be addressed before space mining might become realistic.

Contributors

Sara Russell

(author)
Merit Researcher in Planetary Sciences at Natural History Museum
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5531-7847

Sara Russell is a Merit Researcher in Planetary Sciences at the Natural History Museum in London. She and her team investigate the formation and evolution of the Solar System using meteorites that originated from asteroids and the Moon. Her recent work has focused on the analysis of asteroids Ryugu and Bennu returned to Earth by space missions. She was a member of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 Science Team, is a Deputy Mission Sample Scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) OSIRIS-REx mission, and is a European Space Agency (ESA) Representative for JAXA’s MMX mission that will visit Mars’ largest moon, Phobos, and return fragments to Earth. Asteroid 5497 Sararussell is named after her.

Riz Mokal

(author)

Riz Mokal has researched, taught and practiced insolvency, property and commercial law over the past twenty-five years, and has advised governments on law reform. He currently practices law at the English Bar from South Square in London, and previously held the Chair of Law and Legal Theory at University College London, served as Senior Counsel to the World Bank and headed the Bank’s Global Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Initiative. He has also been a member of the World Bank’s and, subsequently, the United Kingdom’s delegations to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. His work has influenced law reform in several jurisdictions, and has been cited with approval by courts around the world.