In September 2012, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) announced the Robotic Asteroid Prospector project, which will examine and evaluate the feasibility of asteroid mining in terms of means, methods, and systems.
2012. aasta septembris teatas NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) oma projektist Robotic Asteroid Prospector, mille käigus kavatsetakse uurida ja hinnata asteroidide kaevandamise teostatavust ja ratsionaalsust.