Last October, the school convened the first round table. That event brought together more than 60 space experts from industry and academia, along with representatives from several NASA centers and the Russian Academy of Science. Even financial high-rollers from Merrill Lynch showed up.

"Space mining is 10 to 20 years, or even further out. However, somebody has to start thinking about these things now."

Also there was geologist and Apollo 17 moonwalker Harrison Schmitt, who argued for mining the moon for helium 3 -- a rare element not found on Earth -- to help feed an energy-hungry planet. Helium 3 could also be turned into rocket fuel to help in the planet's expanding space endeavors, Schmitt said.

Also on the research agenda is possible design of a lunar solar power system. In this concept, bases on opposing sides of the moon would capture sunlight, convert it to microwaves, and then beam the energy to Earth. Antennas on the ground could then distribute the energy to power grids throughout the world.

Other ideas getting attention at the school's round table include the design of hydrogen- and oxygen-powered spacecraft that refuel themselves with resources from asteroids so they can operate in deep space indefinitely.

"Space mining is 10 to 20 years, or even further out. However, somebody has to start thinking about these things now," Sharp told space.com. "Many trends are converging to open up commercial development of space resources."

One early space market that Sharp envisions is learning how to recycle in space.

"Water is the most obvious example, perhaps for recreational purposes, say for a space hotel. Also, there's the collection of water from other resources like a comet or asteroid," he said.

Sharp suggests that there is exponential growth occurring in our knowledge of space resources.

Most recently, the possible discovery of lunar ice by NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft has triggered renewed interest in studies of the moon.

Furthermore, the International Space Station, Sharp believes, will be the site of investigations that will likely lead to product manufacturing in microgravity. Also, the first experiments are being produced to test on-the-spot how best to make propellants on Mars. The Colorado school is designing experiments for the space station and Mars probes.

Still other factors are helping fuel the idea of space resource utilization, Sharp feels. One is a growing interest on the part of Congress and the White House in commercial space possibilities. Another is that small spacecraft that can explore near-Earth space are becoming more inexpensive and the costs of launches to get them there may get cheaper as well, he said.

As Mike Duke, a research scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, sees it, "the Colorado School of Mines is a natural place" to focus on using space resources.

"They have a long-term interest in mining, extraction and materials production, as well as market development and mineral economics and that is a key leg of using space resources," he said.

Duke, who also is a round table member, points out that the promise of ice or hydrogen on the moon already has prompted good ideas about future customers for lunar resources. Even for distant Mars, cranking out oxygen and possibly methane from that planet's atmosphere is receiving attention within the space exploration community.

"What the CSM round table is doing is providing a stronger focus on potential customer uses of space resources rather than simply their use within space exploration missions," Duke said.

But being a mining engineer, CSM's Sharp admits there's a long way to go before establishing credible and profitable mining ventures in space.

"There's only so much you can do from photos," he said. "We need ground truth. Before you can mine, you need samples, and we're still a long way from that."