There’s loads of palladium, molybdenum and ruthenium in asteroids. Gold is much rarer. (Even-numbered elements are more common than odd-numbered elements on a c

There’s loads of palladium, molybdenum and ruthenium in asteroids. Gold is much rarer. (Even-numbered elements are more common than odd-numbered elements on a celestial scale.) Pd, Ru and Mo are very useful in chemistry and industry — alloys containing less than 1% Mo go for a premium due to their improved durability. Pd is the king of catalysts. Among other things, it’s key to fuel cells and catalytic converters. Ru is a little less interesting, but it does improve (even more than normal) corrosion resistance in Ti and support extremely-high-temperature nickel superalloys, as might be used for e.g. exploring Venus.