A US school is about to launch an undergraduate degree in space mining.

Due to begin at the start of the next academic year, this minors degree courtesy of The Colorado School of Mines involves learning about what resources are out there and how to extract them according to an article on Mining Technology. 

Space mining can be described as the extraction of materials and minerals outside of our own planet.

Prior to the degree, students will have to take core courses that include introductions to both mining and planetary geology.

“We may not see it, but they’re going to be exposed to this. So, we might as well tell them what’s coming up. And not only get them excited but prepare them to do this,” says Dr Angel Abbud-Madrid, who is a director of The Centre for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines. 

“That’s why we’re very clear in our courses on what’s coming up, what the realities are, and you’ll see a lot happening in the next five years or so. There are going to be several missions to the moon to get a feel of what’s in there.”

Professor Jamal Rostami, who is a director of the Earth Mechanics Institute in the department of Mining Engineering at the school and a colleague of Dr Abbud-Madrid’s, states how space mining will eventually become a necessity.

“So why is this (space mining) any different? Well, we are going out of our realm to a new realm, we have to find the resources that we can utilise and would essentially be sustaining our life and activities in outer space. Exploring deep space is inevitable, we’ve got to do it, that’s for sure.”