SPACE MINING FOR A NEW EARTH

I'm still unsure about how deep the 'space mining' theme ran in the PROJECT SWORD stories and strips, as I don't have many of the comics. But space mining has a long history in Sci Fi particularly since the 1970's with films such as Star Wars, Alien, Outland, Red Dwarf, Dune and most recently Moon (not sure if there were many films pre-1970's?).

As for toys, I can't recall any range specifically about mining in space (excluding toys associated with the above films/series). Only a few spring to mind that had anything remotely mining-related in them. One was the wonderful BHS Explorers, a Spacex-like fleet capable of 'exploring' space, land and sea and one deserving of more attention (thanks to Joe Lang's blog it;s on the net). The other, which does have a tenuous link to SWORD as it was manufactured by Empire of Carolina (nee Tarheel), was a die-cast range called STAR MITES, which included a planetary drill and digger. Finally we have MULTIMAC, a line I'm not too familiar with but come across now and then at boot sales here in the UK (anyone big on Multimac?).

However, if you consider SWORD's overall mission to have been more about colonisation than mining then strangely enough the toy range that probably inherited its crown was the 1980's MANTA FORCE. Like SWORD it didn't have its own TV series:

Manta Force was a toyline produced by Bluebird Plc in the 1980s. MANTA was an acronym for Multiple-Air-Naval-Terrain-Assault Force, which referred to both the "good guys" and their spacecraft, searching the galaxy for a "New Earth". Their foe was called Viper Squad, who traveled in a spacecraft called Red Venom. The back-story involved the sending of a spaceship to find a "New Earth" for colonization by the World Government, given the overpopulated and polluted state of Planet Earth. The Viper Squad aimed to take over MANTA and colonize the New Earth themselves (Wikipeadia).

Any other colonising or mining space toys out there in the cosmic void?