Spaceflight 🚀#AstroForge is tracking several candidate asteroids, each of which is about 400 meters 📏 across. There is no shortage of potential targets. Scientists estimate that there are about 10 million near-Earth #asteroids ☄️, perhaps 3 to 5 percent of these are rich in #metals, so there are potentially hundreds of thousands of candidates for #mining. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/against-all-odds-an-asteroid-mining-company-appears-to-be-making-headway/
#AstroForge launches the #Odin mission in 📆 January 2025. A third attempt is planned for late 2025. The fourth mission will focus on extracting and refining #asteroids’ metals before returning to Earth https://www.mining.com/astroforge-secures-first-ever-commercial-license-for-asteroid-mission/
One of two metallic #asteroids floating in Earth's vicinity could boast more #iron, #nickel and #cobalt than the entirety of our #global 🌏 metal reserves. https://www.cnet.com/science/rare-asteroids-near-earth-may-become-targets-for-space-mining/
SteveInIT@spaceflight Statements like "worth $11.65 Trillion" do not take into account supply and demand.
@SteveInIT yes, they forgot to mention "currently", meaning "before the #RawMaterialRevolution", similar to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution
