Sudbury/Capreol firm lands space mining contract – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – April 7, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

When mining begins on the moon or even Mars, a piece of technology developed in Sudbury may be one of the key tools – or multi-tools, rather.

Deltion Innovations Limited, a mining and automation robotics company based in Capreol, announced Wednesday it had been awarded a $700,000 contract as part of the Canadian Space Agency’s Space Technology Development Program, to develop PROMPT (Percussive and Rotary Multi-Purpose Tool), for potential use on exploration and prospecting missions on the moon or Mars.

Described as a “space-age Swiss Army knife,” PROMPT would combined elements of previous CSA-supported projects such as a mini-corer drill, power socket wrench tool and a lunar-sampling drill, all combined in a small, lightweight, but highly durable unit, installed on the end of a robotic manipulator arm.

Read more

[Sudbury-based Deltion Innovations] Canadians to develop space mining tool – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 6, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

The device would prospect for water, ice and resources on the moon and beyond. A Canadian company has inked a $700,000 contract with the country’s Space Agency (CSA) contract to develop a multi-purpose device designed for space mining.

Northern Ontario-based Deltion Innovations Ltd will work on the combination drill and rotary multi-use tool, or what the firm describes as a “space-age Swiss Army knife”.

The project, part of the CSA’s space technology development program, has been given the acronym “PROMPT” (Percussive and Rotary Multi-Purpose Tool), Canadian Press reports.

Read more

Space mining ready for lift off – by David Perri (Northern Miner – March 4, 2016)

http://www.northernminer.com/

Mining and space exploration seem like two fields that couldn’t be further apart. Miners plunge deep into the earth’s crust, while space explorers seek to propel humankind in the opposite direction.

Early champions of space mining were often not taken too seriously. “There was a huge giggle factor,” said Dale Boucher, CEO of Deltion Innovations, a Sudbury-based firm that hopes to supply equipment for space miners.

Boucher spoke with The Northern Miner after meeting with Canadian ministers in Ottawa, where his pitch was simple: Canada, as a world leader in mining capability, should be involved in space mining.

Read more

Mining asteroids to tap resources for humanity – by Lori Ioannou (CNBC – March 11, 2016)

http://www.cnbc.com/

It’s not every day that an entrepreneur comes up with an idea for a trillion-dollar business. But some futurists can spot opportunities that are out of this world.

Take serial entrepreneur Eric Anderson, co-founder and co-chairman of Planetary Resources. This aerospace engineer who dreamed of becoming an astronaut plans to mine treasure on asteroids — everything from water and diamonds to platinum.

With the backing of $13 million from A-list investors — including Virgin’s Richard Branson and Alphabet founder Larry Page and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt — the company has already launched a test vehicle into space and plans two more this summer.

Read more

Space mining race heats up, but whose asteroid is it anyway? – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – February 26, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – Space mining, extracting resources from near-earth asteroids, is “not science fiction any more”. With these words, spoken by Jean-Jacques Dordain, the former director general of the European Space Agency, Luxembourg announced its entry into the space-mining race.

Dordain was appearing alongside Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s economy minister, as he unveiled the country’s bid to be a pioneer in a whole new resources sector, one with quite literally infinite potential. [nL8N15I2WV]

That the small Duchy of Luxembourg should be challenging the current dominant player in space exploration, the U.S., might initially appear surprising.

Read more

Australia Will Lead The Way In Space Mining Because We’re Used To Operating In Isolated, Extreme Environments – by Cayla Dengate (Huffington Post Australia – February 22, 2016)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/

It’s hard to talk about space mining without thinking of Bruce Willis striding across an asteroid in Armageddon, and the scientists, engineers and lawyers at the forefront of space exploration know it.

University of NSW School of Mining Engineering research director Serkan Saydam said off-earth mining preparations were underway but Bruce and his hunky team of riggers were misleading.

“It’s definitely not going to happen like in the movie Armageddon and I can guarantee it’s not going to be done by the humans, it’s going to be done by the robots,” Saydam said.

Read more

Why Canada risks losing out on minerals in space – by Michael Byers (Globe and Mail – February 20, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia.

Three-quarters of the world’s mining companies are incorporated in Canada. But as the global industry prepares for its greatest leap since mechanization, Canada risks losing that leadership position – unless it takes sides in a debate over the private ownership of minerals found in space.

The United States has already shown an interest in asteroids, some of which pass quite close to Earth and might be exceedingly rich in heavy elements such as cobalt, gold, platinum, rhodium and tungsten. Later this year, NASA will launch a spacecraft, the Osiris-Rex, on a mission to retrieve a mineral sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

Canada is providing Osiris-Rex’s laser altimeter, which will map the surface of the 500-metre-diameter asteroid. This will enable scientists to determine the best site for the spacecraft to touch down, briefly, to collect the sample.

Read more

Space Mining Is Going to Accelerate the Military Space Race – by John Knefel (Inverse.com – February 11, 2016)

https://www.inverse.com/

The U.S. military has tried for decades to put weapons in space. Russia and China are watching, and revving up.

Luxembourg made international news last week when the small European country announced its intentions to be a world leader in commercial asteroid mining. You know if Luxembourg is making big moves, the coming decades in outer space are going to be wild.

The expected boom in commercial space travel and resource extraction are going to be equal parts gold rush and space race, with all the potential for riches and conflict those entail.

For decades, the United States and Russia (including when it was part of the USSR) have tried to weaponize outer space. The Reagan-era “Star Wars” program to weaponize space became a symbol of a Pentagon completely untethered from reality or any meaningful budgetary constraints. But the first “space war” was Operation Desert Storm, when U.S. forces used GPS to rout Iraq’s army following the invasion of Kuwait.

Read more

Luxembourg to Back Commercial Asteroid-Mining Ventures – by Robert Wall (Wall Street Journal – February 3, 2016)

http://www.wsj.com/

LONDON—The government of Luxembourg is looking to become Europe’s center for commercial asteroid mining, following U.S. efforts to promote such ventures.

President Barack Obama in late November signed a bill aimed at clearing legal obstacles to asteroid prospecting and exploitation. The new law was welcomed by companies interested in gathering rare metals and other resources in space for profit.

Luxembourg, which has been studying possible involvement in the sector since 2013, is willing to invest in private companies and finance related research and development programs, Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s Vice-Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy, said in an interview.

Read more

Space Mining Could Set Off a Star War – by Clive Thompson (Wired Magazine – January 14, 2016)

http://www.wired.com/

SPACE IS LOUSY with profits. Consider the asteroid Ryugu: It’s made of so many tons of nickel, iron, cobalt, and water, it’s worth an estimated $95 billion. Venture into deeper space and there’s even richer plunder—like Davida, an asteroid that the wanna-be space mining company Planetary Resources values at more than $100 trillion. That’s more than five times the GDP of the US.

These jaw-dropping payloads are why extraterrestrial mining is becoming an increasingly serious endeavor. Companies like Planetary Resources, backed by the likes of Googlers Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, are already launching satellites to scan for the most promising asteroids.

Space experts say some firm could be ready to launch a mission within 10 years. But are they allowed to? Of course, anyone can reach an asteroid—NASA already has. But can you own one?

Read more

New Law Paves the Way for Asteroid Mining–But Will It Work? – by Jennifer Hackett (Scientific American – December 4, 2015)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/

Mining asteroids may sound like a concept ripped from science fiction, but a new law is aiming to make it a reality. On November 25 Pres. Barack Obama signed the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, a bill intended to spur private space exploration by limiting governmental regulations until September 2023.

That time frame is meant to allow a learning period for private companies to develop the technology necessary for future goals such as space tourism, commercial spaceflight and space mining.

To that end the bill explicitly allows companies or individuals to claim ownership of any resources and minerals they are able to collect in space—a right that was previously murky under the law.

Read more

U.S. bill ends legal quandary over mining rights in space – by Irene Klotz (Reuters U.K. – December 2, 2015)

http://uk.reuters.com/

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. – A new law clears U.S. companies to own what they mine from asteroids and other celestial bodies, ending a legal quandary that had overshadowed technical and financial issues facing the startups, industry officials said on Tuesday.

The Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, signed by President Barack Obama last week, includes provisions that authorize and promote exploration and recovery of space resources by U.S. citizens, although no one can claim ownership of a celestial body.

“It’s not unlike fishing vessels in international waters,” said Bob Richards, chief executive of Moon Express, a lunar transportation and mining company.

Read more

US staking its rights in space – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – November 27, 2015)

http://www.mineweb.com/

President Obama signs law giving US citizens rights to resources in space.

US President Barack Obama signed off on a lofty law concerning private rights to resources in space this week. It’s ignited the aspirations of the space exploration crowd in the US – a few of which have designs on mining in space.

Indeed, Obama inspired some first class hyperbole. Planetary Resources, a would-be asteroid explorer, went so far as to peg the law as the “single greatest recognition of property rights in history”.

Well, well. It’s unfortunate the space exploration class chose such climatic words for a moment that is indeed quite interesting if not quite so sexy.

Read more

Bill confirming property rights for asteroid miners passes the Senate – by Mark Whittington (Houston Space News Examiner – November 11, 2015)

http://www.examiner.com/

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee announced on Tuesday the passage of a bill H.R.2262 – SPACE Act of 2015 designed to facilitate commercial space. The bill has a number of provisions for that purpose, including extending the “learning period” during which the government would be restricted from imposing regulations on the commercial launch industry to September 2023.

The most interesting and potentially far-reaching provision concerned property rights for companies proposing to mine asteroids for their resources. In essence, the bill confirms that private companies own what they mine. The bill is a compromise between previous Senate and House versions.

The exact wording of the language reads, “Any asteroid resources obtained in outer space are the property of the entity that obtained them, which shall be entitled to all property rights to them, consistent with applicable federal law and existing international obligations.”

Read more

At $27 Billion, Mining in Space Could Cost Less Than a Gas Plant – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – November 5, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Getting a mine up and running on the moon or an asteroid would cost less than building the biggest gas terminals on Earth, according to research presented to a forum of company executives and NASA scientists.

A mission to Ceres, a dwarf planet 257 million miles from the Sun and the size of Texas, may cost about $27 billion. The expense includes 10 rocket launches to convey equipment, the extraction of metals and water, and the construction of an in-orbit facility to process the raw materials.

The costing comes from graduate business students at Australia’s University of New South Wales, which is also collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the economics of space mining. By comparison, Australia’s biggest single resources development — Chevron Corp.’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas plant — has an expected price tag of about $54 billion.

Still, getting investors to buy into the grand vision that mankind has a future in the stars is a high bar to clear.

Read more