Zephyr Benton, a soon-to-be graduate from the University of Toledo, is just one of those individuals that makes you go slack-jawed after having a conversation. At just 23-years-old this young man is already on a career path so astonishingly inventive, I almost can’t find words to describe how awesome it is. Really!
He is the recent recipient the 3rd place award in the 2021 Ascension Conference 3-minute Thesis Contest. The title of his thesis was “How do we finance space mining operations?” Are you scratching your head right now? Are images of the movie Armageddon flashing through your head? You are in the right ballpark, but don’t worry we don’t need to send an offshore drilling company into outer space just yet.
After graduating from Waterloo High School this local Randolph boy started off college like anyone else trying to discover who he is and how to make his mark on the world. After trying out environmental science and engineering he was not fulfilled. Zephyr was passionate about sustainability issues and aerospace, but how to combine the two drastically different fields of study. Accounting, of course, because with an accounting degree you can work for any industry you want.
After reading an article suggesting accountants need to start considering space mining and space tourism, he realized there are people from the business world working within the aerospace field. It’s not completely as outlandish an idea as some people might think. This is how his journey of exploring the commercial space industry began.
In Spring 2020 he was in Washington, D.C. for an internship with a group called the Potomac Advocates, a government relations consulting firm with the aerospace and defense industry. (I know, just take a second to digest that and how smart a person has to be to achieve this kind of goal.) He had an assignment to reach out to a professional and he found Mitch Hunter-Scullion, CEO of the Asteroid Mining Corporation in Scotland.
In January 2021 he found out the company was interviewing for remote Summer internships in the business development department. He applied and was offered a spot by the CEO with the team. Asteroid mining is the extraction of resources from celestial bodies which includes near earth asteroids and the moon. Zephyr’s new position focuses on different ways an asteroid mining company can generate profits before they can actually begin operations. “A lot of the tech that is being developed in order for asteroid mining to begin can have a lot of applications here on earth. That is how current revenue is generated,” he explained. “The technology developed to locate resources on asteroids such as gold and platinum can enhance our ability to find resources on earth. The same resources found on earth can be found on asteroids and the Moon.”
This is where sustainability comes into play because there is a high demand for rare earth metals which are needed for technologies within the clean energy and green economy fields. “The problem is that mining rare earth metals is a very toxic process. If we can turn that into operations in space it will increase the sustainability of this planet. That’s just one example of the benefits of asteroid mining,” Zephyr said.
It is extremely relevant because of the current tensions between China and the United States. China dominates the market in mining rare earth metals. There are only a few places on earth where the concentration is large enough where they would be profitable to mine. “Rare earth metals have a wide variety of applications, especially for defense and green technologies that will be vital if we want to transition away from a fossil fuel economy.”
“Space mining is not a straightforward career path you have to put a lot of the pieces together and figure out how you personally fit into this industry and how you can position yourself to be of value.”
Technologically speaking, yes, asteroid mining could be practiced now. But the two main problems are politics and regulations because right now none of the International Space treaties address how private companies can extract and profit from resources. The outer space treaty says that nations cannot own celestial objects. This treaty was created with the U.S. and Soviet Union in mind the so regulations have not really been updated since the Cold War Era.
“I will be analyzing the technology used to mine these asteroids and then recommending ways it can be sold to companies here on earth for non-space applications to improve their operations. This will help the revenue build to a point when a mission can be sent to an asteroid to start establishing the infrastructure needed to start space mining operations.”
“If we can transfer a lot of manufacturing into space it would get a lot of these heavy industries off of earth it would be a great step towards the fight against climate change,” Zephyr explained of the possible future he sees for not just his career, but all mankind through his chosen path. “Space can directly help in our fight against climate change.”
“If they have a passion for space, anybody can do it. You just have to sit down and think how do my interests align with the space industry. If you have the desire for it and the work ethic you can do it. You just have to start!”
