Tiny luxembourg seeks global leadership in asteroid mining

While the authority said the investment budget for space mining ventures hasn’t been set, it is believed that the government could fund as much as 45% of research and development projects in the area. They have also in mind to invest in already-established asteroid mining companies such as the US-based Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources.

This announcement, coupled with the recent passing of the SPACE Act in the United States, are important milestones in developing a new economic paradigm, where humanity is no longer limited by the resources of Earth.

Jean-Jacques Dordain, the European Space Agency’s former Director General who will advise the Luxembourg initiative, told reporters that the initiative demonstrated that innovative Europeans are capable of taking risks when the stakes are high.

The SpaceResources.lu initiative will nurture an exciting and entirely new space industry.

Local newspaper Luxemburger Wort reported the government will work with one of the world’s largest satellite operators SES and two USA companies.

The business of mining resources in space is not at all easy or cheap. And he urged European entrepreneurs to follow the example of start-up American companies that had already begun to consider how they could exploit the expensive metals, rare elements and other valuable resources in space bodies. CSLCA explicitly outlined private sector rights which were only implicitly stated in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which is the prevailing worldwide law on these matters. And if asteroid mines become a reality, the profits could be enormous.

According to Planetary Resources, asteroids are “the low-hanging fruit of the solar system”.

But US space exploration companies could feel the competition if Luxembourg’s mining initiative gets off the ground. These objects also contain water, which could be split into hydrogen and oxygen to make rocket fuel.

There are technical challenges involved in asteroid-mining activities. It did, however, return to Earth with a small sample of the asteroid that apparently lodged in the craft during the crash.

Luxembourg may have population of just 500,000 people and a history of zero space launches, but that hasn’t stopped its grand ambitions.

Regarding this second strategy, many are quick to question the value of the asteroids in Asterank’s database.

So, you know talking about the economies of this, last summer there was an asteroid that has the very catchy name 2011-UW-158, and when that passed by Earth, we were able to observe it and that asteroid had enough platinum on it that it had a market value of $5.4 trillion.