Já tínhamos escrito sobre o plano espacial da administração Obama, que inclui missões a asteróides, e quiçá ter no ano 2030 humanos a pousar em asteróides, como propôs a Comissão Augustine.
Entretanto saíram artigos fomentando uma missão deste género, como a que é conhecida como Plymouth Rock, para explorar asteróides próximos da Terra.
Há cerca de 8 meses atrás, a empresa privada Planetary Resources anunciou que iria colocar em prática este plano em 10 anos. Com investidores como James Cameron (realizador dos filmes Avatar, Titanic, entre outros) e Larry Page e Eric Schmidt, da Google, a empresa pretende extrair água, metais preciosos (platina, ouro, etc) e minerais raros de asteróides na órbita da Terra. Leiam aqui.
Crédito: Deep Space Industries
Agora uma nova companhia privada chamada Deep Space Industries comunicou que também pretende explorar minérios de asteróides, a partir de 2015. Leiam aqui e aqui.
Crédito: Deep Space Industries
Vejam os detalhes na conferência de imprensa que eles fizeram:
6 comentários
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Passar directamente para o formulário dos comentários,
Sugiro este artigo que deita alguma “água na fervura” dos (pequenos?) receios que já existiam em diversos países, e me parece bem escrito, com um ponto de vista sensato, equilibrado, e realístico/pragmático:
The US has space experts worried about an extra-terrestrial land grab
http://qz.com/409878/the-us-has-space-experts-worried-about-an-extra-terrestrial-land-grab/
“What the bill tries to do is say that the US will recognize claims of property rights of US citizens who go out and mine asteroids,” space lawyer James Dunstan explains.
“That’s the goal, to say, if you expend the resources and go do it, and bring that stuff back, we will agree—recognize it—as your property.”
But he and others fear that because the bill doesn’t contemplate a method to resolve competing claims from representatives of different nations, it could spur a new, ugly space race based on territory grabs—or set back efforts for property rights.
“If the US approaches this in a way that seems like cowboy imperialism, you could either revive interest in the Moon Treaty,”—which, reminder, bans private property in space—”or just spur a very narrow reading of the outer space treaty,” says Berin Szoka, head of the libertarian technology policy think tank TechFreedom.
“Either case could end up setting the cause of private property rights back significantly.”
Both Szoka and Dunstan support property rights in space but say the bill needs modification before it goes forward.
They argue that the rushed process to write this bill—there wasn’t even a public hearing about it—could lead to unexpected and detrimental precedents. <<<——————————
For instance, this bill is limited to asteroids, but that might not stop other countries from leveraging it with other celestial bodies, like the moon.
“China could apply that precedent. ‘We’ll pass our own law for all space resources,’ China might say, something like the 200-km [exclusive economic zone] that Bigelow has been asking for,” Szoka says.
“If you took it to that extreme, China could land first on the pole of the moon and claim non-interference rights for the entire pole—all of the polar ice.”
The potential for scenarios like these, Dunstan says, could lead US president Barack Obama’s diplomatic and national security advisers to recommend that he veto this bill, should it reach his desk.
Both Dunstan and Szoka are hopeful that when the Senate considers its version of the bill, it will ask the White House to propose an international settlement mechanism akin to what is used to recognize deep seabed mining claims without claiming national sovereignty. <<<<——————
Otherwise, they fear that space businesses beyond tourism may be dead in the water. <<—–
“Private companies can be a spur—this would not be happening if there weren’t two real companies behind it—but they are not going out and doing it and hoping the law catches up,” Dunstan says. “They are pushing Congress to act so they know they are protected.”
Estive a ler este debate: http://www.astropt.org/2012/04/29/explorar-minerios-em-asteroides/#comments
Sugestão:
The Next Great Gold Rush Won’t Be Taking Place on Earth
http://mic.com/articles/115786/the-next-great-gold-rush-won-t-be-taking-place-on-earth
There’s a new gold rush heating up, but the hunt isn’t for oil, gas or tech stocks — it’s for asteroids.
There are more than 10,000 near-Earth asteroids shooting by at any given moment, and many of them contain valuable resources like water, platinum and iron.
While water and iron don’t seem worthy of a gold rush by Earth standards, their value skyrockets due to their scarcity in space and the challenge of extracting them.
If private companies can figure out a sustainable way to mine and sell these cosmic assets, they could make a killing in the new space economy and help fuel the next stage of galactic pursuits in the process.
Esta imagem do artigo que refiro no link acima, vale mil palavras 😉
http://media3.policymic.com/YWZjZDUwZmM0MiMvcndLaWIzZHFWM2VvY1FvMWxoNDVIN2FGcHJnPS8weDA6ODg1eDUxOS84NDB4NDkzL2ZpbHRlcnM6cXVhbGl0eSg3MCkvaHR0cDovL3MzLmFtYXpvbmF3cy5jb20vcG9saWN5bWljLWltYWdlcy9iZWhyb29rbW9vZmloajQ3NXBtZWZ4a2s4cHc5djhhNGxiZnhkbWd3cm1wam51dHB3NTI2MG5mYmR5dWk4dzZuLmpwZw==.jpg
By mining resources in space instead of transporting every material from Earth in a rocket, asteroid miners could save millions of dollars for future space missions.
The mineral-rich asteroids have orbits that bring them close to Earth’s atmosphere, making them relatively accessible to space miners.
These mining operations could enable an unprecedented level of autonomy to future space missions, empowering bigger and better exploration efforts.
“Resources have allowed us to move into every frontier on planet earth,” Chris Lewicki, president and “chief asteroid miner” at Planetary Resources, told Mic.
“If we can find the same opportunity in space, we will find an economic engine to fund the exploration of space.”
Outra sugestão:
Japan Is Launching An Asteroid Mining Space Program
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-is-launching-an-asteroid-mining-space-program-2014-9#ixzz3aMCTSIh1
The probe, named Hayabusa-2, is expected to be flung into space on a rocket for a mammoth four year voyage to the unpoetically-named 1999JU3 asteroid.
When it gets there, some time in 2018, it will release a powerful cannon which will fire a metal bullet at the asteroid’s barren crust, once the probe itself has scuttled to safety on the far side of the rock.
It will then return to scoop up material uncovered by the cannon blast.
If all goes well, these pristine asteroid samples will be returned to Earth by the time Tokyo hosts the Olympic Games in 2020.
Enter the private sector. The private sector has recognized the potential of the asteroid mining market, and they want in. Private companies like Planetary Resources, backed by Google’s Larry Page, and Deep Space Industries are investing millions to develop new technologies that could tap into asteroid resources. Without federal regulation and dependence on government funds, these companies can create new tools much faster.
“I think it is the golden age of the new space race,” Lewicki said. “Rather than two competing superpowers, what we really have now is dozens, maybe even hundreds, of competing capitalists.”
But the lack of government involvement cuts both ways. While privatization of the space industry might speed up exploration, it is unclear whether or not these companies are legally entitled to the resources they mine.
Once you exit Earth’s orbit, it’s much harder to determine who owns unclaimed planets — or asteroids.
Last year, a new bill entered Congress to protect companies for this very reason.
The bill, creatively named the Asteroid Act, would grant ownership of resources to the company that has extracted them from the asteroids.
The bill has yet to reach the floor at the House of Representatives, but the fact that it exists signals the growing attention being paid to a subject that feels like a sci-fi movie.
As K. Dean Larson writes for the Wall Street Journal, “the passage [of the bill] will cost the taxpayer nothing — while the ensuing economic activity will benefit everybody through the creation of jobs and appropriate future taxes on asteroid mining.”
Vale a pena dar uma boa vista de olhos a este “Asteroid Act”: https://www.congress.gov/113/bills/hr5063/BILLS-113hr5063ih.pdf
113TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 5063
To promote the development of a commercial asteroid resources industry
for outer space in the United States and to increase the exploration
and utilization of asteroid resources in outer space.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 10, 2014
Mr. POSEY (for himself and Mr. KILMER) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
A BILL
To promote the development of a commercial asteroid resources
industry for outer space in the United States
and to increase the exploration and utilization of asteroid
resources in outer space.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Space Tech5
nology for Exploring Resource Opportunities In Deep
6 Space Act’’ or the ‘‘ASTEROIDS Act’’.
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2
•HR 5063 IH
1 SEC. 2. TITLE 51 AMENDMENT.
2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle V of title 51, United
3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4
lowing new chapter:
5 ‘‘CHAPTER 513—ASTEROID RESOURCE
6 EXPLORATION AND UTILIZATION
‘‘Sec.
‘‘51301. Commercialization of asteroid resource exploration and utilization in
outer space.
‘‘51302. Legal framework.
‘‘51303. Definitions.
7 ‘‘§ 51301. Commercialization of asteroid resource ex8
ploration and utilization in outer space
9 ‘‘The President, through the Administration, the
10 Federal Aviation Administration, and other appropriate
11 Federal agencies, shall—
12 ‘‘(1) facilitate the commercial exploration and
13 utilization of asteroid resources to meet national
14 needs;
15 ‘‘(2) discourage government barriers to the de16
velopment of economically viable, safe, and stable in17
dustries for the exploration and utilization of aster18
oid resources in outer space in manners consistent
19 with the existing international obligations of the
20 United States;
21 ‘‘(3) promote the right of United States com22
mercial entities to explore and utilize resources from
23 asteroids in outer space, in accordance with the ex-
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•HR 5063 IH
1 isting international obligations of the United States,
2 free from harmful interference, and to transfer or
3 sell such resources; and
4 ‘‘(4) develop the frameworks necessary to meet
5 the international obligations of the United States.
6 ‘‘§ 51302. Legal framework
7 ‘‘(a) PROPERTY RIGHTS.—Any resources obtained in
8 outer space from an asteroid are the property of the entity
9 that obtained such resources, which shall be entitled to
10 all property rights thereto, consistent with applicable pro11
visions of Federal law.
12 ‘‘(b) FREEDOM FROM HARMFUL INTERFERENCE.—
13 As between any entities over which the United States can
14 exercise jurisdiction, any assertion of superior right to exe15
cute specific commercial asteroid resource utilization ac16
tivities in outer space shall prevail if it is found to be first
17 in time, derived upon a reasonable basis, and in accord18
ance with all existing international obligations of the
19 United States.
20 ‘‘(c) SAFETY OF OPERATIONS.—A United States
21 commercial asteroid resource utilization entity shall avoid
22 harmful interference to other spacecraft.
23 ‘‘(d) RELIEF FROM HARMFUL INTERFERENCE.—A
24 United States commercial asteroid resource utilization en25
tity may bring an action for appropriate legal or equitable
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•HR 5063 IH
1 relief, or both, under this chapter for any action, by an2
other private entity, compromising the right to conduct its
3 operations free of harmful interference.
4 ‘‘(e) EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION.—The district courts
5 of the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction of
6 an action under this chapter without regard to the amount
7 in controversy.
8 ‘‘§ 51303. Definitions
9 ‘‘For the purposes of this chapter:
10 ‘‘(1) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means any of
11 the several States, the District of Columbia, the
12 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
13 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the
14 Northern Mariana Islands, and any other common15
wealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
16 ‘‘(2) UNITED STATES COMMERCIAL ASTEROID
17 RESOURCE UTILIZATION ENTITY.—The term ‘United
18 States commercial asteroid resource utilization enti19
ty’ means a person or company providing asteroid
20 exploration or utilization services, the control of
21 which is held by persons other than a Federal,
22 State, local, or foreign government, that is—
23 ‘‘(A) duly organized under the laws of a
24 State;
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1 ‘‘(B) subject to the subject matter and per2
sonal jurisdiction of the courts of the United
3 States; or
4 ‘‘(C) a foreign entity that has voluntarily
5 submitted to the subject matter and personal
6 jurisdiction of the courts of the United States.’’.
7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters
8 for title 51, United States Code, is amended by adding
9 at the end of the items for subtitle V the following:
‘‘513. Asteroid resource exploration and utilization ………..51301’’.
Sublinho este aspecto:
The bill has yet to reach the floor at the House of Representatives, but the fact that it exists signals the growing attention being paid to a subject that feels like a sci-fi movie.
É um tópico interessante, mas deveria ser feita uma lista dos objetos celeste de interesse científico, que estariam a salvo da exploração comercial. Fora isso, até poderá ser benéfico, mas não deixa de ser um tópico interessante.
A Antártica apenas pode ser “explorada” por interesses científicos, pois obedece ao Tratado da Antártica, para evitar disputas territoriais e preservar um dos poucos locais “virgens” da mão humana.
Na Terra certamente tem muito mineral, ainda mais em locais pouco explorados como a Antardida.
Creio que a maior vantagem seja não ter que pagar nada a algum proprietário de terras, nem a qualquer governo.
Seria pouco eficiência tem termos de custo/benefício trazer o manérios para a Terra.
A opção melhor seria utilizar os materiais no espaço mesmo, como na criação de estações espaciais e alojamentos em planetas.
Em termos científicos, são notícias que muito me agradam. No entanto, tenho sérias dúvidas em relação ao lucro de tal investimento pois as despesas iniciais devem ser brutais.
Parece uma boa ideia: captar investimentos de longo prazo (25 – 50 anos ?) dos fundos financeiros, numa altura em que as soluções “normais” de investimento já não são atractivas.
Ao mesmo tempo avança-se na exploração espacial.
Isto é o que se pode chamar uma visão à Infante D. Henrique, daquelas que vêem o futuro com 30 ou 50 anos de antecipação.
[…] sonhar. Continuar a Explorar. Porquê? Missão a Asteróides: Plymouth Rock. Planetary Resources. Deep Space Industries. Mineiros. Astronautas das […]
[…] por vezes mostram humanos-mineiros a recolher recursos em asteróides. Como sabem (artigos 1, 2, 3), existem empresas privadas a querer ser as primeiras a conquistarem esses novos […]