Asteroid mining

In plain language

Asteroid mining means taking useful material from an asteroid and turning it into something a customer can use. That could be water for rocket fuel or for astronauts, metals for building things in space, or precious metals sent back to Earth. Each option needs a spacecraft to reach the asteroid, gather material, separate the useful part and deliver it somewhere it is needed.

So far, space missions have only brought home small samples: 5.4 grams from the asteroid Ryugu for Japan's Hayabusa2, and 121.6 grams from the asteroid Bennu for NASA's OSIRIS-REx. These samples have taught scientists a great deal, but they are far from a working mine. Asteroid mining is still at the stage of finding out what asteroids contain and whether taking material from them could ever pay.

Technical explanation

Asteroid mining covers four activities of increasing difficulty: prospecting the target, sampling its surface, processing material in space to make a usable product such as water, and returning saleable commodities to Earth. Evidence at one stage does not establish the next. Sample return shows that a spacecraft can collect material and bring it back, but it does not show that a mine can process tonnes, operate for years or make a profit.

Economics dominate the case. A techno-economic analysis by Hein, Matheson and Fries, posted as an arXiv preprint in October 2018, names throughput rate and the number of spacecraft per mission as key technological drivers. Its sensitivity analysis covers throughput rate, spacecraft mass and resource price. Its conclusions therefore depend on assumed inputs, not on observed prices or performance from an operating asteroid mine.

Environmental effects are also modelled rather than measured. A 2019 arXiv study by Fladeland, Boley and Byers simulated debris from four asteroids. It found that streams can form when a few per cent or more of an asteroid's mass is lost, and that these streams may exceed background meteoroid flux for some meteoroid sizes during stream crossings. Capture and waste handling would therefore need design attention before any large-scale operation.

What the evidence says

Each statement is typed by the strength of its evidence and linked to the source that supports it.

Limitations and open problems

• No asteroid extraction, processing or delivery to a customer has been demonstrated. Sample return has returned grams of material, not tonnes.
• Results from two sample-return missions may not describe other asteroids, and the sources reviewed here do not show how sampling would perform on other asteroid surfaces.
• Economic results from the Hein, Matheson and Fries preprint are conditional on assumed inputs. They are not observed prices or performance from a working asteroid operation.
• High-volume extraction can release debris that forms meteoroid streams in simulations, so capture and waste management are needed before industrial-scale work.
• The Luxembourg law records one national position on owning space resources. It does not create an international consensus on who may extract, own or use them.

Possible future uses

Timeline

1. 20 Jul 2017Luxembourg's law on the exploration and use of space resources is dated 20 July 2017. It states that space resources can be owned and that a written mission authorisation is required. Sources: [6]
2. Oct 2018Hein, Matheson and Fries submit 'A Techno-Economic Analysis of Asteroid Mining' to arXiv on 9 October 2018. Sources: [3]
3. Nov 2019Fladeland, Boley and Byers submit to arXiv (28 November 2019) simulations of meteoroid streams that could form from high-volume asteroid resource extraction. Sources: [4]
4. Dec 2020Hayabusa2 returns 5.4 grams of material from the asteroid Ryugu. JAXA later reports, in December 2021, that the sample is rich in water and organic matter. Sources: [2]
5. 15 Feb 2024NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission timeline lists the bulk sample from the asteroid Bennu as 121.6 grams. Sources: [1]
6. 3 Jun 2026AstroForge publishes a company update, dated 3 June 2026, saying its DeepSpace-2 spacecraft is planned to launch in the fourth quarter of 2026 to rendezvous with and image a near-Earth asteroid. Sources: [5]

Futures this could help bring about

How far away?

A space elevator

Science unproven · 2 of 9 steps done

How far away?

Bringing asteroid rock back to Earth

Science demonstrated · 3 of 5 steps done

Glossary

In-situ resource utilisation

Using resources found in space, such as water or minerals, rather than launching everything from Earth.

Volatiles

Substances such as water that evaporate or are released when a material is heated.

Sample return

A mission that collects material from a body and brings it back to Earth for laboratory analysis.

Meteoroid stream

A band of small debris that shares a similar orbit around the Sun.

Sources

1. government report
   NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission to Asteroid Bennu
   NASA Science, 30 Sept 2026. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
2. government report
   Ryugu is a primitive asteroid rich in water and organic matter
   JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, 22 Dec 2021. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
3. preprint
   A Techno-Economic Analysis of Asteroid Mining
   Andreas M. Hein, Robert Matheson, Dan Fries. arXiv, Oct 2018. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
4. preprint
   Meteoroid Stream Formation Due to the Extraction of Space Resources from Asteroids
   Logan Fladeland, Aaron C. Boley, Michael Byers. arXiv, Nov 2019. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
5. company announcement
   We Built the Spacecraft
   AstroForge, 3 Jun 2026. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
6. government report
   Law of July 20th 2017
   Luxembourg Space Agency, 20 Jul 2017. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.

Revision history

3 changes since this profile was created.