Firecat is an observatory designed to support asteroid mining. Its goal is to provide a complete spectral analysis of the main belt asteroids so that robotic missions can target precious minerals easily. There are half a million asteroids of which a fraction are thought to contain veins of gold, titanium, and other such minerals. By providing many data points throughout time, Firecat can predict the quantity and precise location of valuable material. This intel can rapidly accelerate robotic mining missions by making them targeted and surgical instead of merely exploratory and blind. By shortening the time it takes to find valuable ore, the data products from Firecat can boost the volume of harvested material and consequently total revenue from asteroid mining.
