Planetoid Mines

Planetoid Mines, headquartered in the United States, develops In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technology for extracting water and metals from the Moon and asteroids, targeting the practical engineering challenges of operating mining and processing equipment in the extreme environments of deep space. The company holds patents on ISRU approaches and has developed specific performance-characterized hardware rather than remaining at the conceptual stage.

The company's primary product concept is the Lunar Mining and Manufacturing Rover (LMMR) — a multi-capability system designed to excavate and process lunar regolith at the poles, where permanently shadowed crater floors hold confirmed water ice deposits at concentrations of 1–8% by weight (or higher in ice-rich zones). Planetoid Mines has characterized its LMMR's water extraction performance at 7.42–18.5 kg/m³ of regolith processed, which reflects the range achievable depending on regolith ice content and operational parameters. Beyond water extraction, the LMMR design incorporates iron and titanium concentration capabilities — lunar regolith contains ilmenite (FeTiO₃) and other iron/titanium-bearing minerals that could be processed into construction materials and metal feedstock for lunar surface manufacturing.

Planetoid Mines was selected to participate in NASA's Break The Ice Lunar Challenge, a multi-phase prize competition seeking innovative approaches to excavating and processing ice from the Moon's permanently shadowed regions. Break The Ice selection validated Planetoid Mines' technical approach against a competitive field of ISRU startups and university teams, providing both prize money and visibility within NASA's commercial ISRU development ecosystem.

For asteroid mining, the company focuses on near-Earth asteroid (NEA) targets with accessible compositions — carbonaceous chondrites containing hydrated minerals (water) and metallic asteroids containing iron-nickel metal in forms potentially amenable to in-space extraction. Planetoid Mines competes in the ISRU sector with AstroForge, TransAstra, and Karman+ (formerly Planetary Resources' successor ventures), all pursuing asteroid and lunar resource utilization as a long-term market creation opportunity.