Mining operations on asteroids may in the future provide many people with jobs and new sources of gold, titanium, platinum, and other metals, as well as hydrogen and ammonia. But at the same time, this idea can be disastrous for telecommunication satellites orbiting the Earth, said in a recent article in New Scientist.

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Mining operations on asteroids may in the future provide many people with jobs and new sources of gold, titanium, platinum, and other metals, as well as hydrogen and ammonia. But at the same time, this idea can be disastrous for telecommunication satellites orbiting the Earth, said in a recent article in New Scientist.

Many large companies are now considering the possibility of transporting asteroids closer to the Earth that would cheapen the mine extraction process (similar idea had and NASA, which wanted to drag a piece of asteroid to orbit the moon with a spacecraft). But, unfortunately, these celestial bodies have weak gravity and can bring a lot of debris that will eventually pollute the geostationary orbit, where the majority of the telecommunications and defense satellites.

According to scientists Casey Handmer the California Institute of technology in Pasadena (USA) and Javier ROA from the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), about five percent of the waste is transported from asteroids will eventually intersect with the paths of satellites. The first few asteroids, most likely, will not constitute a danger, but with the prosperity of the mining industry the number next to the Ground will only grow, and collisions with satellites will become inevitable.

Some industry companies already know about potential problems and ready to deal with them. So, Deep Space Industries, for example, announced that it plans to create around asteroids special "bags" that will not allow to be distributed space debris.