Timeline of space mining

On April 24, 2012 a plan was announced by billionaire entrepreneurs to mine asteroids for their resources. The company is called Planetary Resources and its founders include aerospace entrepreneurs Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis. Advisers include film director and explorer James Cameron and investors include Google's chief executive Larry Page and its executive chairman Eric Schmidt. They also plan to create a fuel depot in space by 2020 by using water from asteroids, splitting it to liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for rocket fuel.

Another similar venture, called Deep Space Industries, was started in 2013 by David Gump, who had founded other space companies. At the time, the company hoped to begin prospecting for asteroids suitable for mining by 2015 and by 2016 return asteroid samples to Earth. Deep Space Industries planned to begin mining asteroids by 2023.

Several organizations have said they are working on asteroid mining, including:

Organisation	Type
Planetoid Mines Corporation	Private company
NEO Resource Atlas (NEORA)	Private company
Deep Space Industries	Private company
Planetary Resources	Private company
Moon Express	Private company
Kleos Space	Private company
TransAstra	Private company
Aten Engineering	Private company
Air Space and Beyond (ASB)	Private company
OffWorld	Private company
Asteroid Mining Corporation Ltd. UK	Private company