It may be one of the smallest nations in Europe, ranking only 168th in terms of total surface area and 170th in estimated population as of 2015, but the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has big plans when it comes to mining precious metals and rare minerals from asteroids.
According to AFP and Reuters reports, Luxembourg officials announced Friday that it would be passing laws and setting aside $225 million (200 million euros) to fund an ambitious program to send a spacecraft to mine near-Earth objects. The plan is similar to one passed in the US late last year, but is the first to be established by a European country.
“We have a first budget to get started but if we need more money, we will be able to provide it,” Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s economy minister, told reporters during a press conference on Friday. “Luxembourg’s aims is to be in the top 10 space faring nations in the world.”
Schneider said that the plan is to recruit experts in space law to draft “comprehensive legislation” that would go into effect next year and would establish a legal framework which would open the door for private firms to invest in asteroid mining operations. Unlike the US law, Luxembourg’s plan would take a more business-friendly approach to the industry, the AFP noted.
Firms interested in obtaining minerals from near-Earth objects would need to apply for and be issued special licenses, and their activities would be subject to government supervision. Local companies and foreign businesses alike would be eligible to participate, and the proposed plan has already drawn some interest from American enterprises, according to Reuters.
Sounds cool… but is something like this even feasible for Luxembourg?
While it might come as a surprise to those who do not closely follow the international space scene, Luxembourg is has already enjoyed considerable success in the industry. Although the country is perhaps best known for its personal banking and fund management endeavors, it is also home to SES, one of world’s largest operators of communication satellites.
Plus, since it would be open to international companies (provided they establish an operations base within the nation’s borders), the program has already drawn interest from two US-based businesses, according to Reuters: Deep Space Industries, which is said to be developing a new concept spacecraft to be used for mining asteroids, and Planetary Resources, a company co-financed by Google co-founder Larry Page that is working on exploration satellites.
While there are many technological obstacles to overcome, and international treaties that need to be taken into consideration, asteroid mining could be extremely profitable – for Luxembourg and for the rest of the world, for that matter. As the AFP explained, some near-Earth objects are filled with water, carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus and ferrous metals – raw materials that could be extracted, processed and either returned to Earth or used to help on deep space missions.
Schneider, at least, seems confident that Luxembourg can become a major player in this field, telling reporters, “We intend to become the European center for asteroid mining.” According to Ars Technica, Dr. Pete Worden, former director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, is serving as an advisor to the program, and said during the press conference that he is hopeful that asteroid mining will enable the use of smaller, less expensive rockets that can resupply in space.
“I believe the future lies in a robust space economy that is driven by commercial interests,” he added. “The interesting thing is that we’re seeing a situation here where space agencies globally are moving from doing these things themselves. Just as NASA is contracting with launch companies, what we hope here is that the resources one needs to explore space can be purchased from these entrepreneurs.”
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Image credit: NASA
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