A private company is aiming to break into the developing asteroid mining business with a concept that could turn the minor planetary objects into rudimentary spacefaring vessels. The Mountain View, Calif.-based Made In Space, Inc., responsible for the first 3D printer to function in zero gravity conditions, will use its additive manufacturing expertise and backing from NASA to continue work on its Project Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata (RAMA). That initiative "turns asteroids into basic spacecraft capable of moving themselves to useful locations in space," according to a blog post by Made In Space co-founder and chief technology officer Jason Dunn. NASA itself is already invested in the further study of the near-Earth objects (NEOs), and even aims to move a portion of an asteroid into Earth's orbit in the near future. And with the once-theoretical asteroid mining business now on its way to becoming an international industry, utilizing the cosmic bodies for the transport and harvesting of resources is now a practical interest.