How Blockchain will Revolutionize the Asteroid Mining Market

Astrophysics and economy tend to go hand in hand, whether it is budgeting for rocket launches, or sending humans into space, and asteroid mining is no different. The amount of money, in the form of valuable resources, that is just floating around the solar system is immense. As of late, astrophysicists and other space-based scientists have turned their eyes towards the Asteroid Belt that lies beyond Mars for a new source of global materials, as the materials here on our rocky planet dwindle and become more expensive. The amount of gold and platinum, cobalt and diamonds that are theorized to be in these asteroids could make anyone a millionaire. Something in current events has also promised this wealth to people who invest in it, Bitcoin. Even though Bitcoin is on the decline, there was a time period in recent memory in which it was the next biggest economic investment. One of the largest backbones of Bitcoin was blockchain, and because of this we believe that Blockchain will be able to help asteroid mining. If we are dealing with large sums of money, a lot of which will be traded virtually, asteroid mining will need a reliable database to hold its information. We believe that when asteroid mining is the next big economic venture, Blockchain will be used by companies all across the world as a backbone for cosmic economics.
When you talk about Bitcoin, many think of the summer of 2017 when this form of
virtual currency was really popular. People all across the world were scrambling to mine the
coins, buying up GPUs and selling stocks to get their hands on money that was not even
physical. It wasn’t as if you could withdraw a bitcoin from your ATM and then accidentally drop
it into a sewer grate. If that was a thing, then people would lose thousands of dollars as a golden coin fell from their pockets into the grimy depths. However, this essay is not about Bitcoin, but rather the backbone programming that went into keeping Bitcoin information running smoothly through databases, Blockchain. From our research, the processes of Blockchain are quite simple, and yet not a lot of people outside the realm of programming and technology really know about it.
However, as obscure as it seems, the form of blocks and chains that hold data as imperative as
virtual money is some solid stuff. Each block holds individual information, and then the chain
helps keep everything organized. The desks of many astrophysicists are always overflowing with homework papers and ideas for future projects. This being said, the pure organizational skills of Blockchain will help astrophysicists keep their data stored in a neat
little place when we turn our focus towards the distant Asteroid Belt.
When we think of anything having to do with space, the world revolutionary always floats
across our brains, no matter what. In current events there is a Japanese spacecraft on its way back from a comet with samples of the comet that it collected by shooting a bullet into the rock and collecting the dust. When we on Earth get the information of what is inside, the kick for asteroid mining will really take off. Already, there is interest all around the world pouring money into satellite development and spacecraft development for missions to near-Earth asteroids and the Asteroid Belt (The Space Resource 2020). That is why learning about Blockchain we realize this service would revolutionize the process of mining and storing data. Blockchain is advertised as a very unhackable source of transferring information, and that alone would be
super important in the economic market of selling resources. Just like our previous comparison,
asteroid mining is going to be a big economic investment in the future, and any company that
employs the use of Blockchain data storage will be highly protected as their data is transferred.
Up until this point we have talked about the economic side of things pertaining to asteroid
mining and Blockchain, but we know for a fact that it has other uses than just money. These uses will also serve to revolutionize the programming that will be put into the business of
extraplanetary mining. Individual information can be stored and encrypted in a chain which will
help keep specific projects or missions to asteroids on task and documented for teams of
astrophysicists and engineers working on them. However, due to the nature of the blockchain
system, this information will be kept in chains that can be accessed by the public (Reiff 2020)
This public aspect of Blockchain will also keep companies accountable to the stuff that they do.
This would benefit the curious public, if per say there were researchers into how companies
prepare to launch asteroid mining projects, or investors who want to know how their money is
being spent. Not only will Blockchain revolutionize the people who are pushing towards the goal
of mining resources from space, but it will help people who want to support, but aren’t in the
specific field.
STEM is such a great field to study in secondary education because of the ways that
different aspects overlap and help each other grow. Everything having to do with space is a constant dance of balance, and there is so much engineering and programming that goes into things, so we believe that having Blockchain to balance the more economic side of progression will assist greatly. Peer help is imperative to success, and the combination of computer programming and astrophysical engineering is scientific cookies and cream; it works. In the next 3-5 years as the ecological bounds to save the Earth increase, more and more people are going to realize the benefits of mining off-planet. The growth of interest will push space companies to jump on the idea, and research towards asteroid mining will only increase. In conclusion, we believe that collaboration is at the root of human advancement, and the mixture of Blockchain and asteroid mining aspirations will only serve to benefit in the future.