Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2009. / Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Law and Business. Includes bibliographical references (p. 778-851)

Background. Space mining is a subject of growing interest. People see where society is heading and that something needs to be done to pave the way for future generations. Outer space contains both the Moon and other celestial bodies as well. these contain precious materials which could be used on Earth. Although all these precious materials exist out there it will take much will and money to get there. This means that in order for people to invest they need to understand how it could benefit them and others. This will not only be through a higher supply of materials but also with the possibility to generate spinoff technologies that can be applied to other industries on Earth. Companies' stock prices should be adjusted when news about them is published, henceforth it can be more understood where space mining is in its development. Most of the previous research focuses have been on how space resources should be divided, likewise how it could be done on a more technical level.    Objectives. The objective of this paper is to understand how and if space mining-related news affects the stock prices of space-related stocks in any significant way. Methods. As a method to understand the market reaction to these kinds of news, a quantitative statistical event study has been used. Upon this, a multiple linear regression model has been applied to gain more understanding of the variance of the abnormal returns. The analysis was performed on 100 space mining-related news articles, news which directly was considered to benefit space mining.  Results. From the first regression, the abnormal return seemed to not be significantly affected on the event day of most of the events. Furthermore, when analyzing it more with the multiple regression, it could be seen that no independent variable could explain the abnormal return in a significant way.  Conclusions. Based on the result the market reactions from space mining-related news are not significantly big enough to affect the abnormal returns. The general fluctuation of abnormal returns on event days seems to be random since no variable has been found to explain its variance.

Systems Engineering methodology applied to the development of an In Situ Propellant Production system in Mars.

Regardless of new mining technologies and environmental regulations, the minerals we extract from the earth’s crust will eventually run out. Likewise, our society demands a constant increase of technology to improve our quality of life. Mining in Zero Gravity is a speculative design project that offers a vision of our first attempt at mining platinum group metals from asteroids by the year 2040. Kolibri is designed within the boundaries of the future challenges facing the mining industry and the development of our space industry.