On June 29 (Moscow time), according to TASS, the mining of metals and rare earth elements on the Moon could become an economically efficient activity in the next 20 years.
This assessment was made by Mr. Sergey Yazev, a senior researcher at the Institute of Solar and Earth Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a professor at Irkutsk State University.
According to Mr. Yazev, rapid progress in the field of aerospace along with the increasing wave of investment in space technology is turning many ideas that were once considered science fiction into achievable goals in the near future.
Russian scientists citing domestic studies say that a metal asteroid about 1km in diameter on the Moon may contain large amounts of precious metals, rare earth elements and elements belonging to the platinum group with a total estimated value of up to about 1 million billion USD.
According to him, this huge economic potential is making many countries and private businesses more interested in exploiting extraterrestrial resources, especially in the context of increasing demand for strategic minerals.
Exploitation activities on the Moon today still sound like science fiction, but in just a few decades, it can completely bring real economic efficiency," Mr. Yazev said.
He believes that the rapid increase in startups related to lunar missions reflects a new global investment trend. In parallel, total capital for the space industry is also growing strongly.
It is no coincidence that the number of startups participating in Moon projects is increasing. Global investment in the space sector is also continuously expanding," he said.
According to the professor, future economic competition will not only take place on Earth but also expand into space. A country that masters space resource exploitation technology will have significant economic and geopolitical advantages.
He also warned countries to prepare early for this trend to avoid falling behind.
The economy of the future will no longer depend mainly on oil and gas. The ability to operate on a large scale in space and effectively exploit extraterrestrial resources is the decisive factor," Mr. Yazev emphasized.
