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OUT OF THIS WORLD
Raise several billion dollars to fund your research programme. Try targeting the ultra-rich, famous and sci-fi obsessed.
Develop and build a network of lightweight telescopes. Send them into low orbit around the earth .
Direct your telescopes towards nearby asteroids and analyse them for signs that suggest the presence of minerals.
Spend more of your funds (Nasa suggests $2.6bn) developing robots to strip-mine minerals in space.
Alternatively, find a friendly government, crash your asteroid into their country and refine it on Earth.
Hope you find enough rare minerals to justify the expenditure.