Although mining in outer space may seem like a far-off possibility, a new U.S. law that legalizes space mining suggests that it may happen sooner than we thought, according to Phys.org. The legislation that legalizes the process was signed by President Barack Obama at the end of November and allows the commercial extraction of minerals and materials, such as water from asteroids on the moon, allowing individuals and companies to keep any materials they find. The legislation establishes the right of business investors to profit from their efforts on the moon under U.S. law.
"Now it is permissible to interact with space. Exploring and using space's resources has begun," said Christopher Johnson, a lawyer at the Secure World Foundation.
Although cosmic mining is still too expensive and risky to undertake as of yet, experts believe it won't be long before it happens, and many people are already excited about the prospect, according to KRMG.
"It has often been a question as to whether a commercial company will be able to go out and develop a resource," said Chris Lewicki, president of Planetary Resources, who is excited about the legislation and claims it "allows us to give assurances to our customers and investors as we build a resource business in space."
He added: "Since the passage of the law, we've been getting a lot of support messages and our current investors are very excited."
The first prospected missions are expected to be launched by 2017 and experts believe that mineral extraction could happen as early as 2020, according to the Daily Mail. In fact, asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries is already planning on deploying mini-satellites to asteroids that are believed to have good prospects for mineral extraction and assess the potential resources.
