Exoplanetary matter was brought to Earth since the Apollo mission in 1969, which took some curious minerals from the Moon on their way home. However, commercial exploration of space only started nearly 300 years later, when the rising trend of orbital settlement required huge amount of raw materials for large-scale construction. It was impractical to bring these materials from the Earth surface due to the planet's strong gravity well, and therefore Moon mining companies quickly rose to great importance, and later those located in the Asteroid Belt. Space Terminals, the facilities where transported goods were being received, became big business too, as they had to process unprecedented amounts of matter; they were getting bigger and more standardised every year, effectively shaping the entire space industry. A Space Terminal usually had facilities not for just receiving goods (which were often traveling at high relative speeds), but also for processing them further, like nano-foundries for excavating metal particles or even parts factories.