[Kim_Bruning]

I'll grant that at 13,500 t, a machine like the Bagger 288 might take a few too many Starship launches (at 100t/launch).

However, I'm pretty sure one can attain reasonable turnover from something a bit smaller, especially for high value minerals.

Maybe you wouldn't consider 100 tons of equipment a commercial scale mining operation yet. Which is fair enough.

If you want to scale up to really start making money, of course you'll need to have your refining and construction capabilities in space too.

This is obviously a big bootstrap problem!

I do think that Falcon heavy and/or Starship are starting to make a small initial bootstrap viable, for someone willing to take the risk.