China just announced a major initiative to mine the moon and asteroids for rare metals and helium-3. This highly technical article, lifted directly from the science and tech in Chinese state media, outlines how space mining might become humanity’s next frontier – and why it could be easier than digging deep into our own planet. I linked the original source below the translation.
Key vocab
太空资源 – tàikōng zīyuán – space resources
小天体 – xiǎo tiāntǐ – small celestial body/asteroid
稀土 – xītǔ – rare earth (elements)
储量 – chǔliàng – reserves/deposits
太空资源是地球大气层之外，能够被人类开发利用并带来经济和其他效益的物质或非物质资源。1月29日，中国航天科技集团宣布，“十五五”时期将开展“天工开物”重大专项论证，建设太空资源开发综合实验和地面支持系统，重点突破小天体资源勘查、智能自主开采、低成本转移运输、在轨处理等关键技术。这意味着我国太空资源开发正从概念构想迈向系统性工程布局，有望推动太空资源开发向低成本、可持续、规模化的方向发展。
我们为何要竭尽心力开发和利用太空资源？“太空资源的种类、储量和价值远超地球已探明储量，开发星际资源是人类的必然选择。”中国工程院院士王运敏举例，月球、小行星、火星等天体蕴藏着巨量的铂族金属、稀土等稀缺战略资源，月球氦-3预估储量超100万吨，是地球的百万倍。此外，太空采矿将牵引机器人、人工智能、新材料等全域高技术突破，其技术红利将反哺地面产业，驱动新一轮产业革命，催生全新的太空制造、轨道服务等产业，开辟万亿级市场。
王运敏表示，随着地球浅部资源越来越无法满足人类发展需求，转向深部、深海、深空探求资源成为必然选择。但地球深部开采面临高地应力、高地温、高井深、高渗透压与开采扰动等极端环境挑战，深海开采则要应对超高压、低温腐蚀、低能见度、通信困难等多重难题。“太空采矿因其资源禀赋的独特性，比实现地球极深部资源开发更容易，而且会带动一大批前沿理论、技术、装备的发展，将成为未来资源战略的终极制高点。”
Space Mining: From Concept to Systematic Engineering Layout
Space resources refer to material or non-material resources beyond Earth’s atmosphere that can be developed and utilized by humans to bring economic and other benefits. On January 29, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation announced that during the ’15th Five-Year Plan’ period, it will conduct feasibility studies for the ‘Tiangong Kaiwu’ major special project, building comprehensive experimental and ground support systems for space resource development, with key breakthroughs focused on small celestial body resource exploration, intelligent autonomous mining, low-cost transfer transportation, and in-orbit processing technologies. This signifies that China’s space resource development is moving from conceptual planning to systematic engineering layout, expected to drive space resource development toward low-cost, sustainable, and large-scale directions.
Why should we devote tremendous effort to developing and utilizing space resources? ‘The variety, reserves, and value of space resources far exceed Earth’s proven reserves; developing interstellar resources is humanity’s inevitable choice,’ said Wang Yunmin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He cited examples: celestial bodies like the Moon, asteroids, and Mars contain enormous quantities of scarce strategic resources such as platinum group metals and rare earths. The Moon’s helium-3 reserves are estimated at over 1 million tons – a million times that of Earth. Furthermore, space mining will drive breakthroughs across robotics, artificial intelligence, new materials, and other high-tech fields. These technological dividends will benefit terrestrial industries, drive a new industrial revolution, give rise to entirely new industries like space manufacturing and orbital services, and open up trillion-yuan markets.
Wang Yunmin stated that as Earth’s shallow resources increasingly fail to meet human development needs, turning to deep underground, deep sea, and deep space for resources becomes inevitable. However, deep Earth mining faces extreme environmental challenges including high ground stress, high temperatures, deep shafts, high osmotic pressure, and mining disturbances. Deep-sea mining must contend with ultra-high pressure, low-temperature corrosion, low visibility, and communication difficulties. ‘Due to the unique nature of its resource endowment, space mining is actually easier to achieve than extremely deep Earth resource extraction, and it will drive the development of numerous cutting-edge theories, technologies, and equipment, becoming the ultimate strategic high ground for future resources.’
Source: http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2026/0131/c1004-40656848.html
