MOON MINING AND ASTEROID WEALTH: The Next Step in Space Exploration | WELT SpaceTime

In their insatiable quest for resources, humans are now also looking to space. The Moon as a mineral paradise? Metal asteroids promising immense wealth? While a gold rush in space remains purely utopian for now, if humanity intends to move deeper into space, it will rely on local resources. Therefore, all spacefaring nations are actively working on concepts and technologies to enable the extraction and use of space resources.
#moon #spacetime #mining #weltdocumentary
📺 Watch more documentaries • Full Documentaries
🔔 Subscribe to our full documentary channel
/ @weltdocumentary

[@bergonius]

This is an excellent and well-researched documentary. No bs, no fluff, all to the point, no obvious factual errors and no dramatization. This is what documentaries support to be. Thanks.

[@alextownsend8624]

Yessss I love spacetime! I WISH I HAD THIS GUY FOR A TEACHER. So glad they are making more episodes!

[@alexgrandino8777]

Hi. I share your enthusiasm about everything concerning space.

[@xelusprime]

Man I love space documentaries! Keep them coming Welt, keep them coming.

[@clarencehopkins7832]

Excellent stuff bro, get this done.

[@tonyportcullis488]

WELT + Space = Awesome❤

[@iainpaton1865]

Very interesting video 😊

[@RomoRooster]

I think AI robots will be the key to space mining.

[@friendlyone2706]

True -- but real humans will be necessary. Humans will be to asteroid mining as humans are to earth mining. We get better power tools all the time (including earthly robotic mining today), but ultimately, we need a human or 2 on board.

[@reddblackjack]

Hell yeah@@friendlyone2706. Human grunts highly paid for a shortened life span are gonna work do it! Small things that are no problem on Earth becomes hugely problematic in space where literally EVERYTHING is trying to kill you.

[@CyanBlackflower]

I can tell you which asteroids you can and or will want to mine. You will leave asteroid "Psycho" and thousands of other much smaller chunks of precious metals alone, and you will NOT mine them, nor will you mine the Moon without my express consent. You must have my permission to mine these, because they are mine! Mine! MINE! Ha HAA!! MINE!! Do you HEAR!! MINE!!! ALL MINE!!!! HA HA HA HA HAAA!!! MINE!! I TELL YOU!!!!

[@apricotcomputers3943]

in this future, the benefit and enhancement of a mankind will be the objective. Not profit for a privileged few at the expense of the 99% it's not metal that gives us value. it's we, who give the metal it's value. we need to give value to the children in need starving around our world

[@ladariussanders4278]

We will make sure that everyone on this planet has food shelter clothes and quality education

[@belesariius]

our only hope for a future

[@BillTaman-jq6cg]

Sign me up!

[@classic_sci_fi]

Harvesting He3 will be a huge mess and a waste of time. Do we want to strip mine the entire surface of the moon for piddling amounts of He3 or harvest Thorium which is there in abundance? Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors running super-cooled CO2 turbines are what is needed for an true industrial base. It takes a lot of energy to separate metals from oxide minerals. Oxygen can be used for life support, chemistry, and as propellant for both chemical and plasma drives.Metals may be alloyed and fabricated into parts for habitat, processing plants, or spacecraft. Materials will be used for building on the Moon and in space with very little going back to the Earth's surface.

[@ShawnRitch]

Thorium is the way to go. I can't believe we aren't already using it here on earth.

[@classic_sci_fi]

@@ShawnRitch The word is getting out, but painfully slowly...

[@davidscarupa1429]

Expect little, results same.

[@yuranbarkey8068]

I do agree that He3 would never be a profitable enough venture to fund moon settlement, especially not since commercial fusion is still a long way ahead, although i haven't been convinced either way that thorium or classic uranium or some other fission reactor is the way to go. Why do you think thorium is the better choice?

[@pauldannelachica2388]

❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@farhanaf832]

We can help scientists by processing data from boinc distributed computing software ♥️

[@markenclarde3348]

I think its been done before our civilization rose up sometime in the past and possibly is still a hub for anamolus activity that we have yet to understand and identify..but ...for our desire to capitalize these resources for the simple act of capital gain will cause turbulence in countries that really need to unite under one brand .

[@reddblackjack]

Well mining is just the first step of many if we want to build ships, bases, and stations. How does one refine metal in zero Gravity? What kinds of forging can be done? On Earth for millenia basic fire can be used and hotter fires are made by pumping in more oxygen. Dozens of ways to do that at 1G. How is that going to be done at 1/6G or .4G or zero G? Can we turn asteroid ore into wire, sheet metal, bars, and beams like we turn iron ore into these things? What kinds of blades could be made on Lunar episodes of "Forged in Fire"? Martian episodes? Could nuclear fission work for heat with no oxygen? Would nuclear refined Lunar Titanium be a good thing ot a bad idea? Then of course space construction. LEGO sells a space construction mech set but i doubt a realistic zero gravity construction vehicle would look anything like it. RCS thruster quads, a reinforced pressurized crew pod, multiple arms, plus radiation shielding and solar protection. I don't think anybody has any for sure ideas working. All this junk might take decades to perfect.

[@thesonuojha]

Star Trek in real life ❤

[@tobyihli9470]

I’d be willing to bet that at least one, maybe more, wood have diamonds or gold in mind blowing amounts. Something like that would certainly be worth it.

[@Mrbfgray]

26:00 He's actually worried about damaging the environment on the Moon and asteroids...yeah we wouldn't want to make them uninhabitable except they already are. Ridiculous.

[@PeterG-xb3zo]

The moon controls the earth's sea tides from its gravitational pull and the Lunar winds ! If you started taking its precious metals you would have weather patterns change catastrophically from changing its magnetism !

[@rajagee9695]

What's this song is?

[@af0ulwind115]

I have all props for anyone wanting to harvest recourses from asteroids, however I highly question the validity and stability of mining the moon... First off modern conventional sciences explanation of gravity and how the moon I held in orbit would lead to the idea that mining the moon would cause it to either grow further from earth or get closer to it, due to changes in mass and quantities of differing minerals and ores that react in differing ways with the attractions of masses.

[@joejohnstonjoe4946]

Time stamps please

[@southtexasprepper1837]

The C-Type Asteroids are valuable! These asteroids contain large quantities of carbon molecules as well as the more usual rocks and metals. They are very similar in composition to the carbonaceous chondrite meteorites that sometimes fall on Earth. Obviously "WELT Documentary" didn't do their homework.

[@andrelaframboise3495]

I’m a surface exploration driller for planet earth. I volunteer for some moon exploration drilling jobs.

[@lacammaro9005]

They are forming the working group for Lunar construction comprising of Geotechnical and civil engineers

[@zakmay5197]

The first rock brought back from the moon is petrafied wood confirming the the moon is in fact a tree

[@pullshow..]

Complex stuff

[@drrao8787]

Property prices will shoot up on moon

[@killeresk]

Think yeah moon mining will be big soon and some will be used on the moon.

[@kastenolsen9577]

Read the book Second Exodus Colony located at the Internet Archives.

[@fglatzel]

Mining gold on the Moon and importing it in large quantities to Earth is a great idea. Especially, once the Gold price is that of stainless Steel, thousands will lose their life savings.

[@vibehighest]

all the scientist are saying there isnt that much to mine on the moon but that one dude with the glasses still swears the moon is where its at hahha

[@northernirishman1140]

Bernie Eccleston has got younger looking... ❤

[@williamgrant3976]

But we WANT gold (and everything else) to be so common and plentiful that anyone can get them... We WANT to crash the gold market. We want to crash the all the markets... everywhere... That way everyone gets what they want, as much of it as they want. Why is that a bad thing? I mean except for rich people...

[@friendlyone2706]

Then the rich will have to be rich because of what they create --- like the Beetles, Elvis and JK Rawlings did. Getting rich because someone can offer a luxury I want rather than because they control something I need is a very different proposition.

[@clarencehopkins7832]

Mine it bro

[@PeterPan-qp7vt]

Yes THERE IS LOT OF GOLD ON YHE MOON !!!

[@user-wb1ks3tp7r]

True goal of conquer the moon is terraforming him in deeper future that serve for spredding life...

[@PradyumnaGarnayak-vx8zl]

H2O means hilium and o and o two

[@samuelsm.c.8733]

Il faudra savoir d'une nouvelle technologie de combustible spatiale pour les fusées et une rentrée atmosphérique plus performant

[@nerdvana101]

It's gonna be bigger than bitcoin mining

[@khadijagwen]

It is obvious that mankind will not do meaningful things in place until we are facing a dire threat that will end us if we don't do something.

[@PradyumnaGarnayak-vx8zl]

Last forty years not recognize it 🤔

[@PradyumnaGarnayak-vx8zl]

How biggest object that type sun light look

[@PradyumnaGarnayak-vx8zl]

H2 is hilium and hydrogen

[@markgerick3063]

Every crater on the Moon could contain some new element or compound deposited from far reaches of our Solar System. Talk about changing Human understanding about Matter, & its potential for new discoveries!! 🤔

[@duncanbedford4765]

How does the ore get back to earth ?

[@friendlyone2706]

easiest: ocean splash down

[@user-em1dg3he1h]

So let me get this right.... We go to the moon , to mine resources necessary to build a colony , where we can then manufacture the equipment to get more resources to support the colony?? Damn....some folks just gotta be busy doing something. More people should take up smoking I think.

[@georgemiles428]

how are you going to mine on a space station because that’s what the moon is

[@ramassist2]

A simpler solution is to live within our means and earth resources. Even the moon would run out of supply someday

[@friendlyone2706]

That will be best... until another giant rock crashes. If we have asteroid mining, we'll mine that asteroid before it crashes, and what would have been a disaster will be a blessing.

[@mikedagneau1315]

This will require building a “Very large space ship in space to take all the equipment to the planets.)just like the one on Alien. This cannot be accomplished on earth. Too much power/fuel to escape earth’s gravity.

[@mindaza0]

too early, not before moon base

[@plasntawmlajlim9310]

Space treaty probably woud not abide by Ruzzia. Ruzzia is going to claim the whole moon.🙀

[@MeganOHowe]

Mining would be even cheaper in space if we developed more efficient antimatter spacecraft. I have science with references how to make antimatter cheaper in the sustainability documentary Antimatter Future I released in my channel in December 2022. Not getting much attention at all but people who watch do realize the importance of the information unless they are science deniers!

[@user-tu2kl9jl1s]

are our resources running out???

[@hanmasantan7282]

No it’s just makes it easier to colonise the rest of the solar system if we can mine in outer space

[@friendlyone2706]

No, but rare Earths are called that because they are rare on Earth. Those rare Earths have become essential for modern devices. Turns out may rare Earths are common on the Moon -- making them MUCH easier to mine on the moon than on the Earth. Better for our environment and our cash flow.

[@JusticeAlways]

Mining could be done with robots.

[@shaunskosana2202]

Mining is require human unfortunately to monitor those bots. But for now we need a robot than can drive transportation and trains must up there for electrical travel. If don't place a housing and underground base to have radio signals panels and dish 📡 to satellite 🛰️📡 can produce more signals

[@JusticeAlways]

@@shaunskosana2202 The mining can be done robots...keep cost of having living spaces to a minimum. Robots will also mine asteroids too. There are already ideas being considered on how to do it. 👍

[@tracycarlson4941]

That's why the bible predicts the future and the moon will turn Red

[@alfredmendai1367]

You are right

[@friendlyone2706]

Many volcanoes and massive fires have resulted in a red moon.

[@alexgrandino8777]

USA don’t want to start any mining yet. Until an other nation enter the competition. But some nations may take them by surprise.

[@ladariussanders4278]

I doubt it the United States will be the first country to mine asteroids and other planets

[@siva36_11]

3 mining and mind mining banned

[@TheRealFreznoBob]

The moon is Mars, it weighs the same per kg and the missing mass from Mars is equal to it. The moon is half the surface layer of Mars that was electromachined away and trapped between Earth and Mars as they came in close proximity long ago.

[@trespire]

At the current state of space medicine, the best of us can barely survive 12 months in a weightless environment. Any teams working in zero-G / low gravity need to be fit and in excelent health for extended periods of time. Until we figure out how to survive in zero-G not much can move forward.

[@friendlyone2706]

We know nothing about the the long term effect of the moon's 1/6 Earth gravity. It might be more than enough to avoid the problems of being on the space station.

[@gerryboudreaultboudreault2608]

Mining the moon and asteroids? Yeah, let's not stop with ruining just Earth, yuk. The minerals there would be used for lunar industries. Extra product could be returned to Earth with the help of rail guns..

[@user-em1dg3he1h]

Only a human could figure out how to put so much time and energy into a thing to get a resource found right here on earth 😂 We really are stupid.

[@hanmasantan7282]

How could someone on the moon use resources that are on earth if they are on the moon?

[@user-em1dg3he1h]

@@hanmasantan7282 fair enough 🤣

[@friendlyone2706]

Rare Earths are very difficult to mine on Earth & cannot be mined without major environmental damage. They are readily available on the moon.

[@9Achaemenid]

What about the Nord stream pipeline documentary?

[@MachineintheMonkey]

Every single ancestor that has swum, slid, crawled and walked on earth for hundreds of millions of years has looked at basically the same glorious view we have today…not to mention the moon’s life giving qualities. Now the apparently intelligent knuckle dragging species wants to destroy it. 😢

[@trojanhorse6029]

Actually, the prehistoric moon used to be much bigger when viewed from the earth. The Moon used to be much closer, it moves away from Earth a small fraction every year. I think it was 8 times bigger in the sky at one point. 😁

[@dubaloo]

Enough for every human on earth to be a billionaire.. like they would ever let that happen. Greed is one of the 7 deadly sins, and all the riches of the universe won't save the sinful ones from judgment day. Just another example of the rich wanting to get richer. There's all kinds of wrong with this whole idea.

[@privateerburrows]

Your visions are backwards; the point of mining asteroids is NOT to bring the material back to Earth; its point is to provide material for space industries, anywhere in space they may be. Space industries can be new bases on planets, new space stations on orbit around planets, new satellites being assembled in orbit around Earth or around the Moon or Mars, or new space transportation vehicles being built on orbit around any planets. Earth has enough metal for itself; it is space industry that needs materials from space, as lifting materials from Earth is too expensive. Your animation starting at 34:45 showing capturing an asteroid and bringing it back to Earth orbit, and the discussion of comparing economics to recycling on Earth is completely besides the point. What the cost needs to be compared to is the cost of lifting the material from Earth to space. Having said that, asteroid mining will still not be economical; specially with the reduction in cost brought about by SpaceX Starship. What IS, or should be, more economical is in-situ resource utilization. Namely, mining Mars for materials needed on Mars. Mining the Moon for materials needed on the Moon. And so on.

[@roseivory8496]

Interesting viewpoint. But, what if the real purpose of asteroid mining is to extract novel materials that do not exist on Earth?

[@privateerburrows]

@@roseivory8496 Are you talking about Helium 3? That's thought to be common in the Moon; not in asteroids. Helium is a special case, in that Earth loses it at a high rate, making it a very rare element on our planet. But other than helium, our planet has basically all elements in the the table of elements, at least the stable isotopes thereof, assuming stable isotopes exist for a given element, which is not always true; but then an asteroid would have the same problem of this element decaying. Or are you speaking of composites? Earth is much richer in rare composites than asteroids, generally, given that here there's life, water, enzymes. Asteroids are not great at producing exotic composites; though they are good at producing exotic christals that only form in microgravity. Might be good for next century jewelry. Then again, whatever the purpose of the mining, it makes more sense to mine asteroids under the Martian surface than in zero G and zero bar, in the middle of space. Mars has millions of asteroids buried in the regolith; and each buried rock has a circle around it, so prospecting is easy.

[@roseivory8496]

@@privateerburrows I am referring to what the genre of science fiction affectionately calls "unobtanium". In other words, materials that have not been discovered yet. These materials may not necessarily be metals or stones. They may include lifeforms (or their remains), viruses, chemicals, etc. Or perhaps alien technology (such as deep space probes). The official cover story fed to the public would be, for example, platinum mining. While the real reason for the asteroid mining would be kept hidden from the public for decades, if not centuries. What do you think? You are intelligent and it is a pleasure to converse with you :)

[@roseivory8496]

I am referring to extracting materials not discovered yet. Not necessarily metals or gems. They could be chemicals, lifeforms (or their remains), etc. It could even be alien technology embedded within or masquerading as asteroids.

[@roseivory8496]

@@privateerburrows Materials not yet discovered.

[@artseye00]

Staying power haha aka Alot of money

[@ryanbrown2550]

And you actually think that the aliens who have already established bases on the moon, are just going to allow us to start mining in their backyard?? I think not.... 💯

[@john404201]

The human race will never become Interstellar beings like Star Trek FACT.

[@gravityawsome]

You just say that cuz you're old, man.

[@PeterPan-qp7vt]

AND OTHER PLACES “”””

[@bravofoxable]

Sure, alter the moon's mass, geeeeezuz..... Fucked in the head doesn't begin to describe this...

[@MachineintheMonkey]

Apparently we are the intelligent species on earth, a quick glance through the earth’s history will show that every other intelligent species worked with nature, not against it.

[@CausticLemons7]

If you're suggesting we'll mine so much that the gravity or orbit of the Moon will change than you are VASTLY underestimating its mass and our capabilities. Google "mass of the Moon" and something like "annual mining mass" then use a calculator. We're still like ants compared to celestial bodies.

[@hukphin740]

....and not to mention that the mined resources would be turned into infrastructure..... on the moon. There would be no profit in sending it back to Earth.

[@friendlyone2706]

@@CausticLemons7 Plus it, too, collects interplanetary dust and has done so for a very long time.

[@plasntawmlajlim9310]

Peace to the world so these visions can be possible to achieve. 🌈🐿️🐦🦜🌳🌍🌎🌏

[@El.presidente]

Saw a version of this 50 years ago. What happened in the meantime,

[@CausticLemons7]

Politics, economics, and lots of science.

[@friendlyone2706]

@@CausticLemons7 But a lot less science than if we had kept on "Spacing."

[@artseye00]

Lmao what was he smoking befkre he cane to my office,,,,, and how could I convince him to leave!!!!lmaooooo this dude is legit

[@tracycarlson4941]

Greed

[@christopherforster6555]

Mining mite unbalance the Earth and moon we have enough he .

[@user-ld7bc9sz9n]

Well one thing, is for certain, they will allllllll be sending there drones to stake out their wealth claims, mine mine mine mine. Im a billionaire, can i claim, and use squatters rights, with my drone robot? ..my new real estate deal, i own a prime piece of property on the moon, south side, on a hill, 7 stories all verandas, and a fantastic view of the dark side, the dark side of being a wealth hoarder.

[@acdc1363]

Moon mining sounds great but it shouldn’t be started it can only end badly ,,,asteroids now 🤔

[@PeterPan-qp7vt]

THIS MESSAGE IS ELON MUSK !!!

[@tpot725]

It is not enough to destroy earth, we must destroy the moon too! For money!

[@rafsanayan7443]

😂😂No one has the ability to destroy the moon😂in the fucking world

[@tpot725]

We did a good job destroying earth

[@bonieboy]

we have ruin this planet so lets do to others as well ...

[@CausticLemons7]

Those poor Moon birds, and Moon jungles, and we need to keep the air clean on the Moon...

[@hallcrash]

Is this April fools content? Mining asteroids is one thing, but it's a bad idea to change the mass of a moon as its mass is important to its orbit and the gravitational effects on the planet they orbit.

[@CausticLemons7]

We're not going to change the mass of the Moon. Use a damn calculator and middle school maths to find out why this is an ignorant concern.

[@friendlyone2706]

The amount of weight the moon has gained from infalling interplanetary dust for the last billion years is MUC more than we would remove by mining. If anything, we'd be returning it to its original size.

[@tpot725]

Terrible idea to mine the moon! And it’s a false equivalency to compare PCs on earth and mining the moon! Hope I’m dead before this expletive happens

[@azifares5302]

Not agree with this moon mining, imagine one day because of mining effect... Moon sway away from earth, without moon, earth is doom

[@dennisreed6345]

The moon is too massive for that

[@captainwesb57]

You’re right it is massive. But who would’ve ever thought we’d be facing issues with CO2 in our atmosphere? We too probably reasoned at one point that the earth was to massive. I say too, it’s to massive to have an immediate effect. However, at some point we may reach a technical ability in which we find that we are having a lot larger negative effect on the moons mass quicker than we thought.

[@trojanhorse6029]

Moon mining would just be the start. After a while, asteroids would be a more viable source than mining the moon. So much resource in space. The Moon will be fine.

[@illumiNOTme326]

​@@captainwesb57 we need more CO2 in atmosphere, not less.

[@saumitraroy8802]

Has mining on earth impacted moon in any way. Both are unimpacted by anything. Anyway in few thousand years humans would be populating other planets right

[@michaelaskay]

USA. USA.USA🎉😂😂😂 Go elite musk

[@tpot725]

Insipid foolishness

[@garysuplee5092]

No time for all that,. See : End Time Events Shepherds Student. Its going down EXACTLY the way our Father said it's going down.

[@reb2322]

AMEN!

[@MJW_1985]

Space jews? =D

[@bosphorusfisherdiver2241]

😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

[@personal_torturer]

Im 1st