Incredible as it might seem, one can, without too much exaggeration, argue that the space mining sector has already gone through its first boom and bust cycle. Of course, it was, by the standards of the conventional mining industry, a tiny boom, and consequently a tiny bust (although no less painful for those involved). Perhaps the two earliest space mining companies were Planetary Resources, launched (no pun intended) in 2012, and Deep Space Industries (DSI), founded not long afterwards. Planetary Resources had raised $50-million by 2016 and was operating a development laboratory by 2017. But, reportedly, the business model didn’t work as hoped, the company was taken over in 2018 and is, it seems, now effectively defunct. DSI raised $3.5-million and won some US Government contracts, but ran out of money and found investors unwilling to provide further funding, reportedly due to its failure to deliver on its technology development promises within the required timeframe.
