The concept of extra-terrestrial mining is in many ways inescapable when one considers the exploration of space. In essence, it is the idea that resources exist beyond the Earth's atmosphere and there are advantages to be gained by exploiting them. These advantages can be as mundane as in the "Star Trek" television series (from as early as the 1960s) and films where the use of ram scoops to collect interstellar hydrogen meant that they did not have to carry any hydrogen from Earth. Then there are the moisture gatherers from the 1977 film "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope", which collect atmospheric water in a desert world, thus saving costs on importing the vital liquid.

They can also be due to the scarceness of a given substance on Earth, such as in the "Nightsdawn" trilogy, published in the 1990s, by Peter F. Hamilton in which gas giants are mined for the rare helium isotope He-3, a source of fuel for nuclear-fusion reactors. This rareness can even be taken to the point of uniqueness, as in the book "Dune" by Frank Herbert, in which the planet Arrakis is the only known source of the spice Melange, which in turn is the only known substance which makes faster-than-light travel possible. Valuable indeed!

In short, this topic covers everthing from the gas drifting through space to the most fantastic substances conceived by the human mind. Who knows what we will find as we explore the cosmos for real?

 

 

 

 

| Index | Other Technologies |