Asteroid news: Mining water from space rocks could 'fuel future exploration'

Future water prospectors may one day expect near-Earth asteroids to be better targets for mining than the Moon. A recent study suggests approximately 1,000 water-rich asteroids near our planet could be easier to access than the lunar surface. Although of most asteroids are only a few feet across, more than 25 of them are large enough to supply significant amounts of water. And estimates suggest enough H2O locked in these asteroids may be enough to fill somewhere approximately 320,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The landmark new research suggests this is significantly more than the amount of water lying frozen in the lunar poles.

Asteroids’ small size means they boast less gravity than planets, making them easier destinations to travel to and from.

Once engineers understand how to extract water from such asteroids, they could produce a plentiful source of fuel for the next generation of satellites.

Mining these space rocks would catalase human exploration of space, as they would slash the expense of launching rockets from Earth.

READ MORE: Locals stunned as fireball lights up London sky

The current challenge for would-be asteroid miners is to figure out how to free the water trapped in hydrated minerals from these space rocks.

Dr Andrew Rivkin, an asteroid researcher at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Research Laboratory, told Space.com: ”Most of the hydrated material in the near-Earth population is contained in the largest few hydrated objects.

Dr Rivkin’s study estimated near-Earth asteroids could contain more easily accessible water than the lunar poles.

According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the majority of the 5,200 man-made objects in orbit are space junk.

READ MORE: NASA reveals how to distinguish space rocks

These satellites became instantly obsolete after running out of fuel and this cosmic debris can cause enormous problems for working satellites.

But refuelling said satellites in space could revolutionise the space status quo, with the promised production of long-lived, productive orbiters.

Dr Rivkin said: ”It’s easier to bring fuel from asteroids to geosynchronous orbit than from the surface of the Earth.

“If such a supply line could be established, it could make asteroid mining very profitable.”

Hunting for space water from the surface of the Earth is challenging because the planet’s atmosphere blocks the wavelength of light where water can be observed.

The asteroid warming as it draws closer to the sun can also complicate measurements.

The Johns Hopkins University researchers examined the Ch class of asteroids.

Although such space rocks do not directly exhibit a watery fingerprint, they possess the telltale signal of oxidised iron seen only on asteroids with signatures of water-rich minerals.

This gave the authors confidence in assuming all Ch asteroids carry this rocky water.

Using meteorite data, a previous study estimated Ch asteroids constitute nearly 10 percent of the near-Earth objects (NEOs).

This allowed researchers to determine there are between 26 and 80 such objects that are hydrated and larger than 0.62 miles (1 km) wide.

Right now, only three NEOs have been classified as Ch space rocks, although others have been sighted in the asteroid belt.

Although Ch asteroids definitely contain water-rich minerals, that does not necessarily mean they will always be the best bet for space mining.

It comes down to risk – would an asteroid-mining company rather visit a smaller asteroid that definitely has a moderate amount of water, or a larger one that could yield a larger payday but could also come up dry?

Dr Rivkin added: “Whether getting sure things with no false positives, like the Ch asteroids, is more important or if a greater range of possibilities is acceptable with the understanding that some asteroids will be duds is something the miners will have to decide.”