What is the focus of the initial academic consensus steps for human asteroid settlement?

Robotic missions focused purely on resource assessment and mapping

The path toward establishing a permanent human presence among the asteroids is structured sequentially, prioritizing confirmation of resources before committing significant resources to infrastructure. The current academic consensus dictates that the very first phase must involve strictly robotic missions. These missions are specifically tasked with resource assessment—meticulously mapping the distribution and concentration of vital materials like water ice and various metals throughout the asteroid belt. Only after this preliminary data confirms viability and resource density, and the engineering required for basic in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is perfected, will the next phase involving uncrewed processing plants commence, followed much later by human arrival.