Global Space Mining Market to Hit USD 12.6 Billion by 2035 | CAGR 17.96%

Read more about this report- Global Space Mining Market to Hit USD 12.6 Billion by 2035 | CAGR 17.96%

The Space Mining Market is valued at USD 2.05 billion in 2024. The Space Mining Market will achieve USD 12.6 billion by 2035 through a projected 17.96% CAGR from 2025 to 2035.

The driving factor behind the space mining industry is the rising depletion of rare earth elements and platinum-group metals on Earth that are essential for electronics, energy, and military purposes. Nonetheless, the high capital cost and uncertainty of technology in long-distance extraction and transportation are the major limiting factors. A potential new opening is the advances in autonomy technology, where autonomous robotic drones and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered navigation systems lower the cost of a mission and have the benefit of allowing more precise extraction.

According to segmentation, the market will consist of Phase (Prospecting, Exploration, Extraction), Target Body (Asteroids, Moon, Mars), Resource Type (Water, Platinum-group metals, Nickel, Cobalt, Others), Technology (Spacecraft, Rovers, Drilling Systems, Propulsion) and Application (Construction, Fuel Production, Life Support, Scientific Research, Others). Asteroid mining, which forms part of the Target Body segment, has the greatest share since the availability of useful metals such as platinum and iridium is very high, and the gravitational pull being less makes its extraction and retrieval missions easy.

Uses of space mining Space mining potentially uses energy production to power a deep-space mission, life support in space settlements, material supply to the space industry, and rare metals for the Earth industry. Refined production of water-derived hydrogen and oxygen to serve as fuel, a rapidly developing front, is now being tested on lunar simulants using new electrolysis technologies being miniaturised to enable ISRU (in-situ resource utilisation) modules, which can be deployed on robotic spacecraft.

The market forces, such as the shrinking size of spacecraft systems, favourable government policies with regard to space commercialisation, and the rising joint ventures between privately owned space and national space agencies, are relevant. As an example, the Artemis Program and its corresponding Artemis Accords of the United States are playing a key role in the legalisation and facilitation of the utilisation of space resources, allowing the introduction of regulated guidance to private corporations.

Geographically, the market is dominated by North America due to the types of relationships that NASA has with the space mining corporations in the country and the primary federal investment in space venturing. The most rapidly developing one is the Asia-Pacific, where China and Japan invest largely in their asteroid missions and activities on the surface of the Moon. Europe is gaining ground with the off-Earth ESA-funded tech incubators of off-Earth mining. Latin America is at its initial phase, and Brazil is experimenting with launch-site partnerships. The Middle East & Africa are also experiencing a slow buildup, with the UAE taking centre stage with its space pursuits in the form of its Emirates Lunar Mission. An interesting event is the Hayabusa 2 mission launched by Japan, which managed to get samples of asteroids, which indicates the practicality of extraterrestrial resource capture.

Among the main players in the market are Planetary Resources Inc., Asteroid Mining Corporation Ltd., TransAstra Corporation, Moon Express, and iSpace Inc. Such players are all backing modular spacecraft systems, next-generation propulsion, and mission planning enabled by AI. They focus their efforts on international partnerships, launches of small payload satellites, and experiments on mining simulation that altogether are forming the emerging space mining environment.