Elon Musk’s Goal may not really be just Mars, but also the Immense Wealth of the Asteroid Belt

A Visualization of the Asteroid Belt, Image from Wikipedia

For a time, some People were complaining on why the Billionaire Elon Musk is exerting so much Resources towards establishing a Human Colony on Mars. They said all those Effort and Money would be better off spent to solve World Hunger, and other Problems of the World, blah-blah-blah. 

Elon himself said that the main Reason for him wanting to go to Mars is to make Human Life truly “Interplanetary”, to help save us from Extinction in Case another Asteroid or other Extinction Level Event (ELE) happens again on Earth. 

I think that those are very valid Reasons, but I suspect that the REAL Reason why Elon wants to establish a Colony on Mars is so he will be able to exploit the immense Wealth of the Asteroid Belt. The Asteroid Belt of course, as taught to us in School is that Torus-shaped Region of Space between Mars and Jupiter that is filled with Asteroids which are made up of valuable Minerals. 

Mining those Minerals and sending them directly to Earth is just not feasible, the Distance involved will be just too far in Terms of Time and Money as far as I can tell. However, if there is a Colony on Mars, the Distance will be a lot more manageable as the Miners could just bring their Minerals there and sell them off where in turn those Minerals will be collected before being sent to Earth in Bulk. 

The Miners could also get their Supplies and do Rest and Recreation in between mining the Belt. So how much Wealth is really there in the Belt to be mined? The amount is absolutely staggering in Terms of Earth Standards, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Agency in the United States (US) estimates that it is worth around Usd 700 quintillion, or that’s 700 followed by eighteen zeroes. 

Or in visual Terms, Usd 700,000,000,000,000,000,000. One of the larger Asteroids in that Belt alone called “Davida” is estimated to be worth around Usd 27 quintillion. Another Asteroid, "Diotima", is worth around Usd 7 quintillion, and a third called "Alauda" is worth Usd 5.7 quintillion. 

So from this we can clearly see that there is just an almost unimaginable amount of Wealth there in the Asteroid Belt. Of course Elon as it is now is already very wealthy, but there is also a Question of Control as whoever ends up controlling Mars could likely end up controlling the entire Solar System. 

And establishing a Martian Colony will also be an Opportunity for him to expand his Legacy even more, one that will be remembered for Centuries or Milleniums to come. 

Once Mars is colonized, it is possible that some of the Asteroids themselves and some of the Moons of Jupiter and Saturn will be colonized also. But it all begins with MARS ...

REFERENCES:

* An Asteroid loaded with $10 quintillion worth of Metals edges closer to US reach (Back-up Link) 

* The Colossal Untapped Value Of Asteroids (Back-up Link)