Scientists in a new research study have suggested that the Moon craters could be a rich source of platinum vast reserves.
According to a study published in the journal Planetary and Space Science, minerals like palladium, platinum, and rhodium could be scattered across 6500 lunar craters created by asteroids, thereby giving a boost to the trillion-dollar industry.
The recent discovery can give a benefit to humanity in the long run as the Earth consists of limited amounts of these minerals.
Astrophysicist Martin Elvis, study co-author explained, “One eighth of the iron in the asteroid belt is more than a million times greater than all of the Earth’s currently estimated iron ore reserves, and it may well suffice for centuries.”
According to researchers, the Moon craters instead of asteroids could be mined to extract these trillions of dollars worth of precious metals.
“These values are one to two orders of magnitude larger than the number of ore-bearing near-Earth asteroids,” they wrote.
Moreover, these mining missions on the lunar surface could also unlock other advantages as well. In the backdrop, technology could be developed for extracting water from the surface of the Moon as some 3,400 impact craters may contain water in the form of hydrated minerals.
As per findings, “It may be more advantageous, and hence more profitable, to mine asteroids that have impacted the Moon rather than the ones that are in orbit”.