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Industry witnesses urge Congress to back U.S. space-mining efforts as complement to domestic mining
Summary
Witnesses at a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing argued that technological progress and launch-cost reductions make asteroid and lunar mining increasingly feasible, and they urged Congress to create finance mechanisms, streamline access to NASA systems, and consider loan guarantees or price floors to help nascent firms scale.
WASHINGTON — The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations heard testimony from industry and academic witnesses who said the United States should treat space mining as a strategic complement to domestic mineral development and should consider targeted federal support to accelerate the sector.
Professor Michael Cabrera, director of the School of Mining and Mineral Resources at the University of Arizona, said the technologies tested by recent sample-return missions show that extracting materials from small bodies is technically plausible even if not yet economic. "Analysis of asteroid Bennu samples found cobalt, nickel, platinum, iridium, and other metals at an extrapolated value of over $500,000,000,000," Cabrera said, noting also that "recovering just 121 grams of material cost roughly $1,200,000,000," underscoring current cost challenges.
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