Asteroids: Glasgow firm sets sight on final frontier. PA

A Scottish aerospace company intends to launch the UK's first asteroid mining mission.

The Glasgow-based Asteroid Mining Corporation is seeking £2.3m to pursue the project.

It believes a small near-Earth asteroid could contain £725m worth of platinum and intends to launch its first survey satellite in 2020.

Founder Mitch Hunter-Scullion said: "Our goal is to develop ground-breaking technology that will enable the extraction, processing and use of materials derived from the many millions of asteroids near Earth.

"Asteroid Prospecting Satellite One will be our first step to achieving this.


"It will be a spectroscopic space telescope which will gather data on target asteroids and act as a test for technologies which we will scale up later for actual mining missions."

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Mr Hunter-Scullion has urged parliament to introduce a bill regulating the exploitation of resources in space.

"This bill would allow the UK to become a major global player in the rapidly growing space mining sector and become the third country after the USA and Luxembourg to develop such forward thinking legislation," he said.

"Our vision is that other similar businesses will relocate to the UK and we will develop a thriving industry, making us a global hub for space resource activities."


AMC is not the only Glasgow firm setting its sights on space.

Satellite-maker Clyde Space is manufacturing cubesats - tiny spacecraft which weigh less than 4kg - used to create a orbital communications network.

Meanwhile, a site in Sutherland has been chosen for the UK's first spaceport and satellites could be launched from a station on Scotland's most northerly island by mid-2020.