Asteroid Gold-Rush begins

A recent Goldman Sachs report said: “Prospecting probes can likely be built for tens of millions of pounds each and Caltech has suggested an asteroid-grabbing spacecraft could cost $2.6 billion (£2.12 billion).”

One such asteroid, called 16 Psyche, is believed to contain metals worth a staggering $700 quintillion (£576 quintrillion) or $700,000,000,000,000,000,000 (£576,000,000,000,000,000,000).

NASA is sending a probe to 16 Psyche in 2022.

Finite commodities such as gold, platinum and rare alloys needed for the mobile phone industry, are becoming scarce, driving up prices and leading to international competition to secure resources, so fortunes await those who can develop the means to exploit the treasure-trove of mineral rich rock in outer space.

The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is were the most valuable space rocks lie.

Metals such as iron, cobalt and nickel are abundant in asteroids and critical components of space vehicles.

Platinum group metals, also abundant, can be used for internal circuitry and electronics.

The prospect of asteroid mining, long the stuff of science fiction, is now being likened to a 21st-century gold rush.

There’s a quest for resources among the stars, and asteroids are the prime targets, either for the metals they contain that could influence Earth-bound commodity markets, or for the water inside them that can be distilled into rocket fuel for future missions into deep space.