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Is Space Mining the Eco-Friendly Choice?

Natural resources are being depleted on Earth. But some think outer space may be a vast reservoir that’s ripe for tapping.

NASA Altair lunar module is shown fitted with cargo pods. The lander is proposed as the initial workhorse for lunar development, capable of ferrying 15 metric tons of equipment to and around the lunar surface. Once a lunar station is established, raw material extraction and orbital assembly could proceed.Credit: Courtesy of Skycorp Incorporated

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Over the course of the next 50 years, even conservative estimates suggest another 2 billion to 3 billion people will enter the market for cars, houses, and the latest tech gadgets. And as the crest of the population wave looms, so do the insistent alarm-bells of human impact — collapsed fisheries, exploited tar sands, and scorched forests devoid of wildlife.

It’s a grim picture, one made even more poignant by wall-to-wall coverage of yet another catastrophic wildfire season in the midst of a pandemic. But it’s also a reality we must face head-on if we aim to continue to grow and thrive as both a species and planet. However, the age-old question remains: Where will we get the resources?

The solution, according to some, is outer space.

At the 2016 Recode conference, Jeff Bezos breezily suggested that we “don’t want to live in a retrograde world where we have to ...

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