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$5 Trillion Asteroid Passes Earth Amid Talk Of Mining Space

Photo Courtesy of NASA

Photo Courtesy of NASA

On Sunday night, an asteroid with a core containing platinum said to be worth $5 trillion passed within 1.5 million miles of Earth, as researchers drooled over the possibility of one day mining space for valuable minerals, according to Forbes.

The first detailed images of Asteroid 2011 UW158 were released last week by Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, which described the asteroid as being “an odd shape much like an unshelled walnut.”

Measuring about 1,000 by 2,000 feet, it passed our planet at a distance of about six times farther out than our moon, but close enough to interest companies in developing a means of exploiting the valuable asteroids that pass Earth.

One such company is Planetary Resources, the Asteroid Mining Company in Redmond, Washington. It describes Asteroid 2011 UW158 as a “prime example of an asteroid Planetary Resources will aim to mine in the future.”

Planetary Resources, which just received two grants from NASA to help its development of mining space, just last week launched the spacecraft Arkyd 3 Reflight from the International Space Station to begin a 90-day mission to test asteroid prospecting technology.

Though mining space might still be years away, perhaps it will be commonplace when Astroid 2011 UW158 passes Earth again, in 2108.