In recent years there have been start-ups and big companies who have made plans to mine comets and possibly planets, for both precious metals/minerals in them and to support further exploration. We will take a look at the costs and benefits of these, for time of writing (late 2025).

Just to get something out of the way: We are not assuming that aliens will assist humanity in exploring the galaxy. Their existence is possible, but not (publicly) proven, so we at Opinion Economics will not assume their existence.

Though most companies and plans focus on mining things like gold, whilst others focus on building a possible base in space, we are combining the two options. This is mostly done to create a larger scope instead of potentially missing a big side of the story. Mining is for now the most likely direct source of cash, which is needed to keep things going.

Governmental funding or at minimum involvement is not a assumed prerequisite, though highly recommended as it will cost a lot of money every single time. Just getting clearance to do something like this will probably require a huge amount of paperwork, so getting the one issuing all paper work on your side is a big help.

Basic returning fees

Once the location has been found, it is time to start the licence procedure; the planet and its mining rights have to be assigned to you, which will take time and fees. A simply owned location is no good so a list of all equipment has to be either made, or adaptated from a standard. You will likely need either people or robots to work the equipment, so the specific needs and requirements have to be sorted, followed by hiring costs.

Transport costs are certainly unavoidable, think a lot of tonnage that has to be pulled away from Earth`s gravity and every other source of the same thing along the way. That means detours to avoid large bodies, including stars, on route.

Difference between mining a planet and a asteroid

The main difference between mining above two options, is that one is a slow moving extremely large body, the other moves at high speed and is unlikely to be big (or stable) enough to support any kind of camp. The bigger the object, the more possibilities to build something that can stay there for a few months, or as long as it takes to make a profit.

Planet

With planets things are a bit easier, but you have to actually look for deposits. First you need to identify where you need to start mining and whether it is safe to set up a camp nearby. If so, you can simply use that as a base of operations and departure point for whatever you took from the planet. This will all cost a huge amount of cash, as a several survey trips will have to be made (one to discover and another to analyse, at bare minimum), plus people need to be paid to both write and process reports.

Besides a simple camp, there are possibilities for using the location for other purposes, which we leave to the future to figure out exactly what those are. But a forwarding location is possible. Or maybe even a small mining town.

Asteroid

On these you will presumably not be able to create anything remotely resembling a settlement; you can mine them from a mobile station that needs to be able to get moving if the body becomes unstable. The stability will constantly have to be monitored, otherwise it just might collapse under your feet. Deposits are probably small but on, or close to, surface level.

A different option would be to capture the asteroid and process it on a facility, of course the facility would have to be the size of a large city, which is ludicrously expensive.

Other bodies

Think comets and meteorites; these are either smaller or lack a solid rock surface. This makes them harder to mine, but still theoretically possible. All that was learned from asteroids and such, will have to be applied to each case to see if it is possible and profitable. The catch and process elsewhere option springs to mind.

Potential for a forward camp

The main function of a industrial camp in space, is to facilitate its exploitation; but a sufficiently large camp in a strategic position can also serve as a hub for other camps and ships. This would greatly benefit the wider effort and provide a source of revenue for its owners.

The following functions spring to mind:

• Place of rest for people travelling.
• Refuelling station.
• Regional command centre, assuming it is a really large and unusually well located camp.
• Storage and/or layover port for both people and goods.
• Entertainment hub, this is best done in conjunction with the other options; the more souls, the more profit.