Mining the Solar System to Build a New World

The plethora of asteroids in the inner Solar System makes for a wealth of mining opportunities to support Martian bases (Credit : Pablo Carlos Budassi)

If humans are ever going to live permanently on Mars, someone is going to have to work out where all the raw materials, the food, they oxygen or the material for the structures to name just a few. A new study has tackled that unglamorous but absolutely critical question and the answer involves robots, asteroids, and one of the most complex supply chains ever designed.