• Home
  • Science
  • Science News
  • Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Nereus Which Flew Past Earth Could Be Mined for Precious Metals Worth Billions

Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Nereus Which Flew Past Earth Could Be Mined for Precious Metals Worth Billions

Scientists believe the egg-shaped asteroid Nereus holds deposits of iron, cobalt, and nickel.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Nereus Which Flew Past Earth Could Be Mined for Precious Metals Worth Billions

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Although the Nereus asteroid didn't post a threat to Earth, it is considered 'potentially hazardous'

Highlights
  • Nereus flew past Earth over the weekend
  • It will fly by again in February 2060
  • An attempt could be made then to mine it for resources
Advertisement

Space mining is an idea that began taking hold at the turn of the century, and 10 years ago, it was passionately discussed. Many argued that space mining could revolutionise the commercial space economy by employing robots and private astronauts to explore and mine near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for precious metals and even rare earth metals. Since then, however, there has been little noticeable progress. This idea again made its way into public discourse this weekend as an NEA — called 4660 Nereus — passed the Earth. Scientists believe the egg-shaped asteroid with a diameter of 330m holds precious metals worth an estimated $5 billion (roughly Rs. 3.78 lakh crore).

Nereus at no point came dangerously close to Earth. At its closest, it was 3.9 million kilometres away — about 10 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Scientists say it would again pass by Earth in 39 years from now — and at that time it could be possible to launch “space miners” to see how we can use those precious metal deposits on this asteroid.

According to a report by Asterank, which has a scientific and economic database of over 6 lakh asteroids, Nereus is composed of $4.71 billion (roughly Rs. 3.56 lakh crores) worth of iron, cobalt, and nickel. But further research after the recent flyby will throw more light on its characteristics.

Franck Marchis, chief science officer for Unistellar, which makes digital telescopes, told Forbes that Nereus will be flying only 1.2 million kilometres from the Earth in February 2060, when “space miners” could attempt to land on it. “As a regular guest of our planet, Nereus could play a significant role in the future of space exploration, providing key resources,” said Marchis.

Another topic that worth noting is how Nereus' recurrent flybys affect the Earth's safety. The asteroid has been classified as “potentially hazardous.” Even when the asteroid passes the Earth in 2060, it will be five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Objects that come close to Earth and are large enough to cause substantial damage are classified as “possibly hazardous.” This suggests the danger that objects like Nereus can cause in future since they cross Earth's orbit at some point.


Why does Redmi refresh its phones so soon? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

WhatsApp Reportedly Working on Restricting Unknown People From Knowing Your Last Seen, Online Status Updates
Redmi Note 11 4G Tipped to Launch Globally with Snapdragon 680 SoC, Price Expected to Start a $199
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »