It’s the business plan that could have been lifted straight from the script of a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster.

A Scottish entrepreneur is bidding to launch a new, multi-billion-pound gold rush - by mining in outer space.

Mitch Hunter-Scullion, 23, is seeking £2.3 million to build a satellite capable of identifying platinum metal deposits on near-Earth asteroids.

And although it may seem like the science of the future, asteroid mining is expected to become big business as the celestial bodies are believed to be full of precious metals and minerals.

Nasa estimates the total value of resources locked in asteroids is equivalent to $100 billion (£75 billion) for each person on Earth.

The Asteroid Mining Corporation headed by Mr Hunter-Scullion has become the first company in the country to join the industry of the future.

The Herald:

He has a plan of action that could see mining start in ten years time.

But first space entrepreneur has to launch the UK's first asteroid mining mission and is seeking £2.3m to build a satellite capable of identifying platinum-group metal deposits on near-Earth asteroids.

The Liverpool Hope University student hopes to launch the Asteroid Prospecting Satellite One (APS1) in 2020 from India to conduct a spectral scan and determine if there are "viable candidates" for mining.

He calculates that a single metallic asteroid of 25 metres in diameter, contains approximately 29 tonnes of platinum worth around £725m.

"Yes, I think it feasible," he said. “Our goal is to develop ground breaking technology that will eventually enable the extraction, processing and use of materials derived from the many millions of asteroids known to exist near Earth.

The Herald:

"The APS1 will be our first step to achieving this success. The APS1 will be a spectroscope space telescope which will gather data on target asteroids and will act as a test for some of our technologies which we will scale up later for actual mining missions.

"Our crowdfunding campaign to help us finance the cost of the APS1 is now up and running and we’re confident we can attract sufficient investment."

Mr Hunter-Scullion who set up AMC after completing my dissertation at Liverpool Hope University on asteroid mining added: "Whilst researching for it I realised that there were few companies that have been set up with the intentions of mining an asteroid, with none being in the UK.

The Herald:

"It was a topic that fascinated me and when I finished university I decided to set up AMC and begin working on developing technology which will open up the possibilities of an off-Earth commercial market.”

With no previous business experience, Mr Hunter-Scullion received support from Business Gateway Glasgow and is now working working to allow the mining to be done legally, He is working with the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands to draft a proposal for a UK Space Resources Activities Bill.

The company believe this legislation is vital to the development of the space mining industry within the UK as it allows British based companies the rights to prospect for and extract mineral resources from asteroids, the moon and other celestial bodies.

Mr Hunter Scullion is not alone in recognising the potential of asteroids.

The first asteroid company, Planetary Resources, was founded in 2012 by Diamandis, Chris Lewicki and others in Washington, USA. Within a year the US company Deep Space Industries was set up by Rick Tumlinson, Stephen Cover and a host of others.

Bankers from Goldman Sachs also hope to build an 'asteroid-grabbing spacecraft' to make billions from mining space metals.

A 98-page report from the banking investment company claimed last year that mining asteroids for precious metals in the near future is a 'realistic' goal.

"Prospecting probes can likely be built for tens of millions of dollars each and Caltech [California Institute of Technology] has suggested an asteroid-grabbing spacecraft could cost $2.6bn," the report said.

No asteroid has yet been directly sampled, but Nasa aims to change that with its plans to send a probe to the mineral-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.

16 Psyche is located in the large asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is one of the most mysterious objects in the solar system, and could be worth a small fortune.

It is seen as a 130 mile-wide lump of metal, made up of iron, nickel and rare metals, including gold, platinum and copper.

Nasa announced in January 2017 that it intended to send a probe to the asteroid to sample its chemical make-up in 2022.

It was calculated that the iron in 16 Psyche alone, would be worth £8,072 quadrillion.