Luxembourg Wants To Mine An Asteroid - And Could Make Trillions
Luxembourg - a tiny European country with a population of 543,000 - is hoping to lead the world in asteroid mining, which could earn trillions.
The Grand Duchy announced that it would support research in asteroid-mining technologies - and put in place a legal framework for miners based in the country.
American companies such as Planetary Resources - backed by Titanic director James Cameron - are already planning to send robotic vehicles to mine precious metals and rare resources from asteroids.
Planetary Resources describes asteroids as ‘the low-hanging fruit of our solar system,’ and says, ‘a single 500-metre platinum-rich asteroid contains more platinum than has been mined in the history of humanity.’
Former European Space Agency boss Jean-Jacques Dordain is to advise Luxembourg on the venture, saying ‘Things are moving in the United States and it was high time there was an initiative in Europe, and I am glad the first initiative is coming from Luxembourg.
‘It will give no excuse for European investors to go to California.’
