SpaceDev and NORCAT will be exploring design options and conducting proof-of-concept functional prototype development of technologies such as low-gravity anchoring and drilling assemblies. Such technologies are applicable to remote, in situ surface and subsurface operations on asteroids and comets. The agreement also covers standardized mechanical, electrical and communication interfaces between dispersed space systems, useful for ejectable payloads, planetary landers and formation flying communications.

NORCAT, located in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada is an internationally known not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the advancement of new technologies in the mining, energy, resource and construction sectors via the development of new products and processes. NORCAT is presently active in 10 countries and its 4 year old Prototype Development group has completed or is working on more than 40 prototype technology projects.

"This collaboration with NORCAT should allow SpaceDev to seize opportunities for creating innovative, low-cost and standardized technical approaches for getting things done in extreme environments. Resulting standard product uses could range from the existing multi-billion-dollar mining industry to the commercial space sector," said Jim Benson, Chairman and CEO of SpaceDev. "It's another example of our way of doing things differently and less expensively in space," he added.

Much of NORCAT's technical focus addresses the severe engineering, environmental and logistical challenges associated with mining and resource-acquisition operations.

"There are many technical similarities between remotely operating a state-of-the-art underground mine and postulated mission operations on a near-Earth asteroid or comet," said Darryl Lake, NORCAT Executive Director and CEO. "The proven technology of the mining industry has the potential to jumpstart extra-terrestrial resource extraction and mining and NORCAT is proudly looking forward to investigating potential technology opportunities with SpaceDev."

The SpaceDev/NORCAT partnership could ultimately lead, for example, to a small, low-cost drilling assembly that could be used by a landed spacecraft to probe an asteroid's subsurface for evidence of water ice, or to a small, low-cost standard electronics card that facilitates a system anchored on a comet to communicate via "Interplanetary Internet" protocols with its carrier craft orbiting overhead.