Asteroid Erik Simonsen | Getty Images

The race to space traditionally has advanced with exploration and even tourism in mind, but space-mining is looking like an increasingly legitimate idea, opening the possibility of a new civilization — and profits — on another planet. Tesla CEO Elon Musk's SpaceX and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin aim to make space tourism a reality, and ultimately to let humans live on other planets. Now, technology has made landing on an asteroid appear increasingly possible. Take SpaceX, for example. The launch of the Falcon Heavy space shuttle and the successful return of two of its three boosters may make it possible to carrying heavier payloads into space and could lower the costs of launches.

Governments and even experts in the field are still debating over the appropriate uses of these resources, and it remains a difficult question to answer. Rebecca Keller senior science and technology analyst, Stratfor

Noted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, among others, have claimed that the world's first trillionaire will make his or her fortune in space minerals. According to NASA, the minerals that lie in the belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter hold wealth equivalent to a staggering $100 billion for every person on Earth. There's a lack of legal clarity over the ownership of space resources, however, and laws presiding over space are largely ambiguous in general, according to Ian Christensen, the director of private sector programs at the Secure World Foundation, a space-related think tank. "There are some gaps in the law, and some things need to be clarified to provide more certainty on current laws," Christensen told CNBC, adding there is no single authority responsible for the allocation of resources in space. The most comprehensive law today is the United Nations-sponsored Outer Space Treaty of 1967, but confusion between countries remains. "When it comes to the use of space resources, the area is fairly vague and it can be interpreted in either direction," Rebecca Keller, a senior science and technology analyst at political risk consultants Stratfor told CNBC. "Governments and even experts in the field are still debating over the appropriate uses of these resources, and it remains a difficult question to answer."

'Legislation lags behind technology'