[RightWhale]

There is another step to the process from the government side. A Land Office must accept claims to mineral lands and for homesteading. The registration of those claims would be all the collateral needed to go out and get severely large investment funds from the commercial lending instututions.

The homesteads would be for palliation of sensibilities of the masses of clueless mudcrawlers. The mineral claims would be the engine that drives space development.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Another incentive for environmentalists: mining could be moved offplanet.