Data recovered by the satlet has determined that a multispecies asteroid-mining firm is investigating the feasibility of injecting bioengineered microbes into space rocks to the processing their valuable resources.
The multispecies Mothership would be carrying a number of tiny CubeSats, one of which would deploy and spiral down to the asteroid's surface.
The CubeSat would then inject into the asteroid a low-temperature fluid laden with bacteria, which would propagate through cracks and fissures generated by the injection process. Over time, the microbes — genetically engineered to process metals efficiently — would break down harmful compounds within the asteroid and/or transform resources into different chemical states that are more amenable to extraction.