A private company, Origin Space in Beijing (China) is set to send out the world’s first asteroid mining robot into space in November 2020. The robot has been named ‘asteroid mining robot’ by the space start-up in China.
As per the report, the asteroid mining robot will be launched into space by a Chinese Long March series rocket. If the mission turns out to be a success, it may open a trillion-dollar industry.
While commenting on the development, the company added that being the first space-mining robot produced by a commercial company in the world, the mission will prove to be a milestone for the space resources industry.
Objective of the mission:
Yu Tianhong, Origin Space Co-founder informed that the robot will not be engaging in any mining work but it will be testing the technologies. The goal will be to assess the asteroid mining robot’s capabilities and to find out how well it can identify and extract the valuable resources vis-à-vis asteroid mining.
The co-founder further mentioned that the goal is to verify and demonstrate multiple functions such as stimulated small celestial body capture, spacecraft orbital manoeuvre, intelligent spacecraft identification, and control.
Warning from the experts:
On the question of how far is it correct to intrude in the Solar System, the experts have always warned that the solar system needs to be left alone and must be protected from an impending rush of space mining efforts. As per the experts, the rush could leave humanity in a resource catastrophe in centuries.
Earlier, even NASA had announced that it will be buying ‘moon rocks’ from private companies in the future.
Another Mission of China’s ‘Origin Space’:
The private space start-up from China has also been working on another mission named ‘Yuanwang-1’, which has also been nicknamed ‘Little Hubble’. Its launch is set for a late 2021 or early 2022.
This mission will involve a lunar landing eventually, but the rest of the course is reportedly still being worked upon.
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