---
title: "Scientists: We Need to Protect the Solar System from Space Mining"
description: "A group of scientists want to declare the greater expanses of the solar system as official \"space wilderness\" to protect celestial bodies from space mining."
date: "2019-05-13"
modified: "2019-05-13"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/scientists-stop-space-mining-solar-system"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Renewable Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Solar Power"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "asteroid mining"
  - "environmental protection"
  - "off-world mining"
  - "space mining"
---

# Scientists: We Need to Protect the Solar System from Space Mining

![A group of scientists want to declare the greater expanses of the solar system as official "space wilderness" to protect celestial bodies from space mining.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/scientists-stop-space-mining-solar-system.png>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Save the Solar System

A group of scientists want to declare much of the solar system to be official "space wilderness" in order to protect it from space mining. As [*The Guardian* reports](<https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/may/12/protect-solar-system-space-mining-gold-rush-say-scientists>), the proposal calls for more than 85 percent of the solar system to be protected from human development.

"If we don’t think about this now, we will go ahead as we always have, and in a few hundred years we will face an extreme crisis, much worse than we have on Earth now," Martin Elvis, senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge , Massachusetts, and lead author, told *The Guardian*. "Once you’ve exploited the solar system, there’s nowhere left to go."

## Iron Horse

[The research](<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576517318507>) will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal *Acta Astronautica.*

It suggests that we could use up as much as an eighth of the solar system's supply of iron — the researchers' proposed "tripwire" threshold after which we'd run the risk of running out of space resources indefinitely — in just 400 years.

## Asteroid Farmer

Numerous private companies have suggested that space mining could further human advancements in space — while turning a huge profit. For instance, U.S.-based mining company Planetary Resources is already planning to look for "critical water resources necessary for human expansion in space," according to its [website](<https://www.planetaryresources.com/>).

And the next generation of human explorers is bound to be swept up by the great promise of space resources as well. The Colorado School of Mines has started offering a [PhD program](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-resources-mining-degree>) that focuses on the “exploration, extraction, and use of \[space\] resources."

## Gold Rush

What's less clear is whether humankind has learned its lesson here on Earth.

"If everything goes right, we could be sending our first mining missions into space within 10 years," Elvis told *The Guardian*. "Once it starts and somebody makes an enormous profit, there will be the equivalent of a gold rush. We need to take it seriously."

**READ MORE:** [Protect solar system from mining 'gold rush', say scientists](<https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/may/12/protect-solar-system-space-mining-gold-rush-say-scientists>) \[*The Guardian*\]

**More on space mining:** *[Falcon Heavy Could Make Asteroid Mining a Reality](<https://futurism.com/falcon-heavy-asteroid-mining>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)