7-28-14 Update: There they were, at 10,000 feet on the remote and rugged slopes of the Mauna Kea volcano on the big island of Hawaii, running their robot through the same volcanic soil NASA uses to ...

NASA has unveiled how its moon mining robot or In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator (IPEx) will work on the lunar surface. This robotic system will support lunar digging, making it possible ...

The harsh realities of extraterrestrial terrain have often hindered space agencies' ambitions of exploring various celestial bodies in our solar system. From the Martian deserts to the lunar craters, ...

5-23-16 update: Cyclone Space Mining was so close to big mining runs at NASA’s annual robotics competition. But, a broken frame disabled one of the team’s two robots during the team’s first run. Then, ...

A push to extract minerals from the depths of the Pacific Ocean is gaining momentum. Here is how it works and why it has become a global flashpoint.

Human dreams of mining asteroids won't become a reality without space robots. The billionaire-backed company Planetary Resources has announced plans to do the dirty, dangerous job of space mining with ...

Chinese scientists have built a cat-inspired robot designed to adjust its posture and stick its landing even in low-gravity environments, an advance that could revolutionise the exploration of ...

That tension between urgent mineral demand and largely invisible deep-sea life sits at the heart of the deep-sea mining dilemma, as described by deep-sea biologist Adrian Glover of London’s Natural ...

In the next decade, the mining industry may lose more than half of its jobs to automation, according to a new report. That’s not based on future technologies, but on automated equipment being deployed ...

NEWCASTLE England/LONDON (Reuters) - The world's first deep sea mining robot sits idle on a British factory floor, waiting to claw up high grade copper and gold from the seabed off Papua New Guinea ...