As such, multiple companies are now trying to initiate a space mining industry, which could provide those basic resources for space travelers, or for robotic space operations. In the future, asteroids or the moon could even provide humans with resources that are rare on Earth, such as precious metals.

But there are major hurdles that need to be overcome before space mining can get off the ground, so to speak. Representatives from various companies pursuing space mining activities recently spoke about the state of the industry here at the 2016 Space Commerce Conference and Exposition. 

Many of the speakers on the panel made comparisons between space mining and terrestrial coal mining or offshore oil and gas drilling. Among other issues, that comparison leads to the idea of a mining supply chain, which refers to the activities that support the actual extraction of the desired materials. In terrestrial mining, that could mean everything from the team that surveys the land to find the best place to extract material, to the company that supplies food to the miners.