Will a new moon soon join the moon we are used to seeing in the sky? A recent discovery of the ATLAS system reveals that from next week another moon will start orbiting earth.
The system, which consists of four telescopes that scan earth, was created by NASA and is designed to identify and warn of bodies that may be approaching earth.
Surprisingly, the arrival of "new moons" to earth is not a rare occurrence, and in recent years there have been a number of mini-moons orbiting earth. Much interest surrounding the mini-moons stems from the many resources they may have on them, as many small asteroids contain precious metals, which makes them especially attractive when they approach earth.
Although it seems like science fiction today, companies such as AstroForge plan to start mining minerals from space that are rare on earth, but abundant in asteroids around it.