Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has long posited that the world's first trillionaire will emerge from asteroid mining. With advancements in space technology and resource extraction, this prediction is finally gaining traction.
Asteroids are rich in metals like platinum, nickel, and iron, often in concentrations far exceeding those found on Earth. For instance, some asteroids contain platinum at levels up to 15 parts per million, compared to Earth's 0.0005 parts per million. Some asteroids even contain enough precious metals to make everyone on the planet billionaires.
These metals are crucial for renewable energy technologies and fuel cells, making them highly valuable, which could easily lead to whoever perfects mining them becoming the world's first ever trillionaire.
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In an interview with CNBC's 'On The Money' in 2015, Tyson said: "The first trillionaire there will ever be is the person who exploits the natural resources on asteroids.
"There’s this vast universe of limitless energy and limitless resources. I look at wars fought over access to resources. That could be a thing of the past, once space becomes our backyard."
As of yet, no individual has managed to reach trillionaire status. The combined wealth of the world's billionaires is substantial, but it falls short of the $1 trillion mark, although many speculate that Elon Musk will become the world's first ever trillionaire by 2027, and Jeff Bezos might not be too far behind him either.
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According to Business Insider, a single asteroid could contain around £40 billion worth of platinum, showing the immense wealth potential of asteroid mining.
Recent developments indicate that asteroid mining is becoming more feasible. In February 2025, California-based AstroForge launched its Odin spacecraft on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, targeting asteroid 2022 OB5 to test mining technologies.
While the mission faced communication challenges, it marks a significant step toward commercial asteroid mining.
But how far are we from actually seeing resources from space being mined and brought back to Earth?
Well, billionaire Victor Vescovo, one of the investors in AstroForge told the BBC: "Bring back a few micrograms to show it can be done and then scaling the process up is relatively straightforward.
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"To fully realise asteroid mining may be a multi-decade project. But it's just a mathematical problem."
With the vast amounts of money to be made from mining asteroids, could greed do humanity a favour for once, and speed up the race to become the first asteroid miners?
Kegan Mooney