The U.S. commercial space industry has grown substantially over the last decade. Companies such as SpaceX and Orbital Sciences have delivered cargo to the international space station. Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX are developing the capability to deliver people to low earth orbit. Bigelow Aerospace is developing habitation modules for use in low earth orbit and is set to deliver one to the international space station next year.

Now other companies are anticipating an entirely new space adventure: mining...