Robots could soon assume the role of miners but they will not be harvesting minerals from the depths of the earth, instead they will be transported into space, where they will be deployed to explore the hundreds of asteroids that regularly pass near our planet.

The idea is being marketed by Planetary Resources co-owners Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson, who both believe that automated ships can be used by man to collect rocket fuels and minerals from the estimated 1500 asteroids that travel near Earth.

Scientists have projected that putting the two's fantastic proposal into reality would run to billions of dollars as initial investments, with the prospect of numerous failures as admitted by Anderson.

"There will be times when we fail ... There will be times when we have to pick up the pieces and try again," Anderson told The Associated Press.

And Anderson was not exactly new in the business of formulating what initially appear as impossible propositions as AP noted that he was mainly responsible in coming up with the blueprint that would allow tourists to see first hand the views beyond Earth.

Together with his partner Diamandis, the likelihood that robot ships could scoop up valuable elements outside Earth has attracted the attention of tech biggies such as Larry Page and Eric Schmidt - the two main men behind Google.

The imagination put together by Planetary Resources also got into the radar of James Cameron, AP said, who gained fame for his cutting-edge sci-fi flicks and recently added to his resume the exploration of the Mariana Trench in Pacific Ocean.

According to their plan, space mining will become operational over the next 10 years and human presence in almost the whole process will not be required, Anderson.

In two years time, the two said, the plan could get underway by sending into orbit series of powerful telescopes that would be programmed to search the near-space for the suitable asteroids that can be explored and mined.

Water will be employed to power the actual mining activity, Anderson said, which would be sourced from the target asteroids and then converted to fuel for dispatch into Earth orbit where space depots will hold them for purpose of fuelling the mining robot ships.

Planetary Resources has calculated at least a $10 million initial investment to fund the first phase of the projects, with the amount likely skyrocketing once the mission shifts into full throttle by the next decade.

Over the long-haul, the monstrous investments would be worth the initiative, with the technology governing the project perfected by then and with the notion that asteroids do not hold too powerful gravitational pull, making the process of harvesting minerals from the incomplete planets easier and affordable.

Anderson stressed that investors willing enough to contribute to the undertaking will definitely reach the projected benefits and will be part of another milestone on man's mission to operate beyond the limits of Earth.

"We do understand that the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, if it's successful, it will be big," the project proponent told AP.

His proposal won the nod of John Hopkins University's Andrew Cheng, who once was tapped by the U.S. space agency NASA to head one of its asteroid exploratory missions.

"I have high hopes that commercial uses of space will become profitable beyond Earth orbit. Maybe the time has come," Cheng told AP.