Earth's New Mini-moon Belongs To A Group Of Promising Targets For Future Asteroid Miners Trying To...

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Mini-moons like this could be ideal targets for asteroid mining to send humans deeper into space .

The second moon that Earth now has for two months may seem like just a fun curiosity, but it's also a sneak peek at a future space industry that could change our global economy.

An asteroid called 2024 PT5, which normally orbits the sun as part of the Arjuna asteroid belt, was captured in Earth's orbit on Sunday, according to astronomers' projections. Astronomers expect it to spend about 57 days traveling along a horseshoe-shaped path around Earth before rejoining its asteroid belt.

For those 57 days, the school-bus-sized asteroid will be a ⁘natural satellite⁘ of Earth — basically another, temporary moon.

That makes it economically intriguing. ⁘ Mini-moons ⁘ like this are ideal targets for mining, according to Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, one of the scientists who charted 2024 PT5's path around our planet.

Asteroid mining could someday help humans travel further out into the cosmos and extend our presence through the solar system. That's because some asteroids contain valuable metals like iron or platinum, as well as water.

It's basically ⁘a giant boulder,⁘ Teddy Kareta, a planetary scientist at the Lowell Observatory, told Business Insider.