I hereby call for a US-led race to asteroid mining. During the Cold War, the Soviets beat the US to first satellite, first man in space, first woman in space, first flyby of the moon. To beat them, JFK called for a mission to leapfrog the Soviets: put a man on the moon! Today China has surpassed or threatens to imminently surpass the US in multiple fields. There is only one frontier where the US maintains clear supremacy, which is affordable (reusable) rocket launch capability. Rather than over-focusing on the struggle to maintain parity, the US should put its main focus on leapfrogging using this greatest comparative strength. Some would say we should go to Mars. While it's true that would be an unmatched accomplishment, it yields little economic benefit: there's not much you can bring back from Mars. Let's put Mars aside for a minute and consider: Asteroid mining, on the other hand, requires roughly the same complexity and cost, but would yield TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS of economic benefit returned to the US. Asteroids containing trillions of dollars of rare metals are just floating out there for the taking, and the US can launch more rockets faster than China can - getting the infrastructure and tools into space immediately to start collecting those resources. First to the asteroids is who will rule the solar system. China still hasn't figured out how to land rockets - but they eventually will, and the window for the US to seize the lead here will only be open for a short while. Call for a mission to mine the asteroids by 2030!
