Asteroid 2012 DA14, which will give the Earth a "record-setting" close shave Friday, would be worth an estimated $195 billion if it was harvested for resources, according to asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries, Inc.
Set to whiz past Earth Feb. 15, the 150-foot wide asteroid will come within 17,200 miles of the planet when it makes its cosmic fly by, well inside the paths of navigation and communications satellites, according to Space.com.
"This is a record-setting close approach," Don Yeomans, the head of NASA's asteroid-tracking program, said in a statement.
"Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, we've never seen an object this big get so close to Earth."
While the asteroid will approach the Earth even closer than the moon, it still won't be near enough for Deep Space Industries to harvest it for resources.
"This week's visitor isn't going the right way for us to harvest it, [but] there will be others that are, and we want to be ready when they arrive," announced Deep Space chairman Rick Tumlinson in a statement, according to Space.com.
Deep Space Industries, Inc., plans to launch a fleet of prospecting spacecraft in 2015, and begin collecting metals and water from near-Earth asteroids in about a decade. The company is hoping its work will make it possible to build and refuel spacecraft in space, furthering humanity's attempts to get a foothold in the "final frontier." The company plans to first use the materials to build communications satellites while in space, with eventual construction of space-based solar power stations.
Deep Space says much of the in-space construction will be made possible by a patent-pending 3D printer called the MicroGravity Foundry.
Deep Space also has the eventual goal of creating in-space "gas stations" that would allow satellites and traveling spacecraft to fill up their tanks. By focusing on extracting asteroid water, which can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, the main components of rocket fuel, the raw materials are there for the taking, the company claims.
While the concept of harvesting asteroids for resources such as precious metals and minerals is intriguing, it's the viability of such missions is still unproven. As the Huffington Post notes, the idea is so complex it "could take many decades to turn into a (profitable) reality."
The value of asteroid 2012 DA14 is only an estimate, but it does point toward the future potential of the still incipient asteroid mining industry.
"Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development," Deep Space CEO David Gump said in a statement.
"More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every year," Gump explained. "They can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit car industry last century - a key resource located near where it was needed. In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the in-space industries of this century. That is our strategy."
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