Japan's unmanned spacecraft Hayabusa landed on an asteroid named 25143 Itokawa and returned a sample of the asteroid to Earth in 2010. U.S. spacecraft Dawn left Vesta last year on a course for Ceres, and is expected to arrive in 2015.
China is a newcomer to asteroid exploration. Chinese lunar probe Chang'e 2 flew by an asteroid named 4179 Toutatis at a distance of about 3 kilometers on Dec. 13, 2012, and took clear photos of the asteroid using its solar wing surveillance cameras. This was China's first asteroid exploration.
Two U.S. companies, Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, are working toward asteroid mining.
Planetary Resources has started manufacturing space telescopes for observing asteroids, and will send probes to selected asteroids for prospecting. Deep Space Industries plans to launch its first asteroid-mining spacecraft named FireFly into space in two years.
As early as 2005, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled plans to send humans back to the moon in 2018. It planned to tap potentially large reserves of helium-3 on the moon, and pave the way for Mars exploration.
Space mining, if it becomes a reality, will exert an unimaginable impact on all aspects of people's lives.
The value of PGMs may fall sharply, and the world financial order will be affected. If enough helium-3 is used to fuel nuclear fusion power plants, energy will no longer be a problem. The electricity generated from just a fuel tank of helium-3 can power the entire Untied States for one year.
The development of deep-space technology will also expand the boundaries of human activity. Mining sites on asteroids can be used for exploring deeper into space, and even be transformed into villas for space tourists.
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