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How Asteroid Mining Will Save Earth episode artwork

Nov 7, 2026 15 min

How Asteroid Mining Will Save Earth

from PBS Space Time Hosted by PBS

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACEUploaded 27-06-18Thanks to Audible for supporting PBSDS. To start your free 30 day trial and receive a free audiobook visit https://www.audible.com/spacetime or text spacetime to 500 500!The days of oil may be numbered, but there’s another natural resource that’s never been touched, Asteroids.You can further support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetimeGet your own Space Time t­-shirt at http://bit.ly/1QlzoBiTweet at us! @pbsspacetimeFacebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetimeEmail us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] comComment on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/pbsspacetimeHelp translate our videos!https://www.youtube.com/timedtext_cs_panel?tab=2&c=UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7gPrevious Episode:The Black Hole Information Paradox https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XkHBmE-N34The richest person in modern history, was John Davison Rockefeller, His net worth was three times greater than that of our richest tech billionaires, inflation adjusted. And the source of that fortune? Timely exploitation of a vast, then-untapped natural resource: oil. Well, the days of oil may be numbered, but there’s another natural resource that’s never been touched, is effectively inexhaustible, and has a dollar value large enough to disrupt entire economies. That resource? Asteroids, and the precious materials they contain. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson predicts that the world’s first trillionaire will be an asteroid miner. The Rockefellers of the 21st century may be less like the internet and tech moguls of the 20th century and more like the old-school oil barons of the 19th century.Hosted by Matt O'DowdWritten by Drew Rosen and Matt O'DowdGraphics by Grayson BlackmonAssistant Editing and Sound Design by Mike Petrow and Linda HuangMade by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com)Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters: Big BangCoolAsCatsDavid NicklasAnton LifshitsJoey RednerFabrice EapQuasarTambe BarsbayMayank M.

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How Asteroid Mining Will Save Earth

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This episode was published on November 7, 2026.

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