Is Asteroid Mining the Next Gold Rush or Just Science Fiction? — Here’s What We Know

In science fiction, the concept of asteroid mining is a classic trope. The idea of ​​humans prospecting for precious metals and other resources on low-gravity rocks floating in the solar system is compelling, inspiring a sense of excitement and adventure. You will find him in cult series like The extent Or For all humanityand in science fiction tales dating back over a century.

And these stories have inspired concrete efforts to explore the possibility of mining in space. Over the past decade, several start-ups have staked claim to what they hope will be the next gold rush. After all, we have determined that there are tens of thousands of asteroids whose orbits pass near Earth, and millions more that populate the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, all intact and ready to be explored for the wealth of resources they could provide to humanity.

But Josep Trigo-Rodriguez, group leader of the Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites Division of ICE-CSIC and the Catalan Institute for Space Studies (IEEC), is not willing to set a specific date when we could realistically reap the bounty of our solar system’s many asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.

“This could be economically realistic in a few decades or centuries,” Trigo-Rodriguez said. Discover. “This timetable depends on humans realizing that the future lies in promoting international cooperation and common goals for peace and prosperity. »

Learn more: Samples from asteroid Bennu contain mysterious space gums, sugars and a ton of stardust

Is asteroid mining a new gold rush?

Through careful and ongoing analysis of these objects, as well as the study of space debris that has landed on Earth in the form of meteorites, we know that many asteroids may contain not only gold but also other valuable substances, including what we call rare earth elements.

These materials are important for everything from industrial processes to the manufacturing of smartphones, computers, and medical devices that keep modern society running. They are called “rare” because they are rarely found in easily extractable quantities here at home. But the idea behind space mining is that these high-value materials could one day be harvested in abundance from asteroids and would no longer be rare.

Like the first gold rush of the 1800s, some companies seeking to mine asteroids or other satellites in our solar system went bankrupt before even beginning the search for a mother lode. But some persist, and new players enter the market, fueled by the promise of untold riches if they could just develop the technology (and financing) to start their operations and choose which targets would be most profitable to mine for their resources.

To date, proposed mining ventures have primarily focused on so-called differentiated asteroids, most of which have melted and formed distinct layers, including cores that may contain abundant metals. But a new study offers new insight into another type of asteroid being a more feasible target for future mining, although its authors point out some serious obstacles that must be overcome before asteroid miners can strike it rich.

In an article published in January 2026 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, researchers from the Spanish Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) analyzed various meteorites from undifferentiated asteroids. These meteorites can provide valuable information about the chemical composition and history of the asteroids they came from, said Trigo-Rodriguez, lead author of the study. Discover.

One-stop asteroid purchasing

Undifferentiated asteroids, especially C-type asteroids, are the most common in the solar system. Although they have not melted and formed layers and cores like differentiated asteroids have done, they also contain various metals and materials that could be interesting for mining.

Additionally, these asteroids are abundant in carbon and water, which could prove valuable as potential resources to support a base of operations on the Moon or space mining platforms. Water could also be used to make fuel on-site, expanding mining and general space exploration without relying on Earth’s resources. In short, the study suggests that these asteroids could be much more attractive targets of opportunity, providing a one-stop shop for miners.

Trigo-Rodriguez, who also authored the book Asteroid impact riskbelieves that commercial mining operations will look more closely at undifferentiated asteroids in the future, but that more study and research is needed before humans are close to actually mounting a mining operation in space.

“As we envision in our paper, we must first develop the technology to mine in harsh low-gravity conditions and continue to promote sample return missions,” Trigo-Rodriguez said. Discover.

The Future of Asteroid Mining

So far, humans have only managed a small number of missions in which we collected samples from a satellite in space and returned them to Earth for analysis. And most of these missions took place on the Moon.

To date, we can report only three successful sample return missions to and from asteroids: the Hayabusa missions led by the Japanese space agency JAXA and NASA’s historic OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu. Other missions are underway, including the next phase of NASA’s OSIRIS mission, now known as OSIRIS-APEX, which will reach its next asteroid target in 2029.

Although each sample return mission will provide insight into the composition of asteroids that could become valuable mining targets in the future, the fact that humans have been able to land a few probes on asteroids and return small samples is hardly proof of the viability of asteroid mining, as Trigo-Rodriguez and co-authors noted.

“Besides the progress represented by sample return missions, there is a real need for companies capable of taking decisive steps in the technological development necessary to extract and collect these materials in low gravity conditions. The processing of these materials and the waste generated would also have a significant impact that would need to be quantified and properly mitigated,” Trigo-Rodríguez emphasized in a press release at the time of the publication of his team’s study.

So for now, the possibility of intrepid explorers becoming space miners is in the future, but not just because of the need for advanced mining technologies and processing.

Learn more: Asteroid mining gives companies hope in rare metals search

Article sources

Our Discovermagazine.com editors use peer-reviewed research and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review the articles for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. See the sources used below for this article: