The Current State of Space Mining.

As demand for rare Earth minerals rises, access to these resources has become a growing concern. One promising solution is asteroid mining. Near-Earth asteroids are known to contain quantities of valuable materials such as nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals, water, and ice. These resources are essential for advanced manufacturing, energy systems, and space refueling. This paper surveys the feasibility of space-based mining, outlining the technical, logistical, and economic challenges involved. We discuss the process of asteroid selection, progress in on-board and Autonomous robot systems, and in-space resource processing. Recent works suggest that asteroid mining could become viable within the next two decades. If successfully implemented, asteroid mining can significantly change geo-political resource contention and reduce the scarcity of many important elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]