The tiny western European country that is Luxembourg has dreams. Like, out-of-this-world dreams.

Of all the aspirations in the world, they have set their sights on asteroid mining, one of the “most hyped industries of the future,” reports NewsWeek.

Why? Well, it could have something to do with Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s prediction that the “first trillionaire will make their fortune by exploiting asteroid resources”:

“Our goal is to put into place an overall framework for the exploration and commercial use of resources from ‘celestial bodies’ such as asteroids, or from the moon,” Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy said, according to CNBC.

But Luxembourg has long had a foot in the game: the country is home to one of the largest satellite operators in the world, its government invests in companies hoping to pursue asteroid riches, and it has made it possible for corporate groups to lay claim to space’s resources.

Now that’s some forward thinking.

So what can one find on these asteroids? Well, there are two kinds of resources: precious metals and water:

When it comes to precious metals, the appeal is straightforward: Bring it back to Earth, and make a fortune from selling ores like platinum.

The most efficient method for metal-mining may be to drag an asteroid closer to Earth to reduce the commute. One more exotic tactic that has been proposed would involve using the sun to warm an asteroid in order to fish the more solid platinum out from its slightly melty surroundings.

Interestingly, the water isn’t there to bring back to save Earth. Rather, water can be split to form hydrogen gas, which can power rockets and get those carrying the precious metals back to Earth:

Right now, rockets have to carry all the fuel they’ll need for their entire missions. But that fuel gets heavy fast, and the heavier a rocket is, the more expensive it is to launch in the first place.

In other words, petrol stations in space.

The mind boggles.

[source:newsweek]