![Image](https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/images/1948-asteroid-mining-future-timeline.jpg)
Credit: Erin Mahoney/NASA
Note: this thread is distinct from Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors, the latter being more of a general and science-y thread.
Here, we can discuss developments relevant to mining and resource extraction, specifically. Not just on asteroids but also the Moon, other moons of the Solar System, and perhaps even beyond our Solar System in the more distant future.
You may remember some years back, Peter Diamandis co-founded Planetary Resources. A few years later, Deep Space Industries also emerged. Both of these showed real promise, but unfortunately lacked a viable business model, ending their operations in the late 2010s. But other companies continue to pursue the dream of untold riches in space, and given the finite resources here on Earth, it seems inevitable that (barring a collapse of civilisation), asteroid mining will be part of our future.
Ultimately, these large rocks may even become habitable...
http://www.orbitbooks.net/2312/
https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/2019/02/15.htm