A group of billionaire and former NASA scientist is now unveiling thefirst asteroid excavation companyin history . They lay claim they will “ add trillions of dollars to the orbicular GDP ” and “ help ensure humanity ’s prosperity ” by excavation asteroid for rare metals like gold and platinum .
https://gizmodo.com/new-space-mining-company-unveils-plans-to-bring-asteroi-5904589
Their object lens is to “ harness imagination from passing - by asteroid ” . And they take they are going to launch their first blank prospect ships within 24 month !
1:32PM : The demonstration at the Seattle ’s Museum of Flight has just set forth . They just present Charles Simonyi , Planetary Resources , Investor ; Eric Anderson , Co - Founder & Co - Chairman , Planetary Resources ; Peter H. Diamandis , M.D. , Co - Founder & Co - Chairman , Planetary Resources ; Chris Lewicki , President & Chief Engineer , Planetary Resources ; Tom Jones , Ph.D. , Planetary Scientist , Veteran NASA Astronaut & Planetary Resources , Inc. Advisor .
1:36PM : They are play a video now confront the new society . Their objective is to “ harness resources from passing - by asteroids ” . Tom Jones , the cosmonaut and Planetary Resources advisor , is talking in the telecasting about how asteroids passing near Earth contain these fabric .
1:43PM : Peter H. Diamandis , Co - Founder & Co - Chairman of Planetary Resources and the author ofAbundance : The futurity Is well Than You Think , is talking now . He ’s make the peak that the real engine of exploration has been the hunt for resources . The Europeans got to America in hunt for spice , and later atomic number 79 and other raw resources . Now it ’s last to be the same for infinite .
He is utter about what is move to make distance resourcefulness mining possible :
1 . forward-looking robotics that will provide for belittled space vehicle that can do a circle of thing on their own .
2 . novel launch platforms , like SpaceX ’s Heavy Falcon rockets .
3 . investor with no fearfulness of jeopardy , like Google ’s Page and Brin . He actually means infinite nerd with gazillions of dollars .
1:49PM : Of course , Diamandis is now saying that what they are planning is totally manageable . That is going to be super difficult , but it will work and it will bring the resources we need with a vast return of investiture .
7:51PM : Diamandis has introduced Eric Anderson , who ’s the beginner of Space Adventures , the company that brought a lot of millionaire to space . He believes that this industriousness is going to be huge and that they are only the first company and presently other will travel along .
1:53PM : Anderson is break down to tackle the economics of this architectural plan . First , what ’s the value of asteroids .
The company does n’t handle about the asteroid belt ammunition . They just manage about near - Earth asteroid . There are 9,000 knownNear Earth Asteroids . He reason that there are 1,500 that are energetically as easy to turn over as the Moon .
https://gizmodo.com/this-asteroid-is-getting-way-too-close-to-earth-5855571
One of the main imagination they are move to mine is body of water . This will be used for fuel — oxygen and H — for space military mission to Mars and other pointedness of the solar system . Obviously , they are thinking long full term here . He argues that , by mine this fuel on near - Earth asteroids , the cost of space travel will be peanuts .
The 2d resourcefulness is cherished metals . He says they want to make treasured elements abundant . Just like aluminum was a rare metal at the commencement and now it ’s one of the heart and soul building metals in the world , they desire to do the same with Pt , gold and other rare chemical element . This will allow for engineering never figure before .
1:59PM Wow , they are go to be launching their first ancestry of excavation spacecraft in 24 calendar month ! Holy spaceballs . These are not going to be extractors , but explorers .
They are also going to launch prospectors to place , specialized telescope that will explore near - Earth asteroids . They will utilise these prospector to canvas and understand the Asteroids . See how big they are , their twirl rate , their swiftness … and then analyze their components , launching swarms of mining explorers .
Once they realize what are the asteroid they want to use , they will launch the cartridge remover . He has n’t mentioned when are these are going to plunge . in all probability this is still quite far away .
2:07PM He says that they may fail , but that they conceive they are go to make it . To back this he has presented the investors , including the founders of Google and Perot Jr. Man , this guy is really enthusiastic . I calculate he can launch space excavation automaton with his bare hand .
2:10PM Chris Lewicki , who was at NASA involved with the Mars ’ rover exploration programs . “ Hello , my name is Chris Lewicki , and I ’m a space mineworker ” he says .
2:11PM He believe that they are perish to be capable to make these outer space mining robots for exclusive - digit million of dollars . He also claims that their missions will be in the two - finger’s breadth million number . This is a pretty bluff statement . These numbers are just a flyspeck fraction of current quad program .
He ’s talking about how they are go to achieve these low price ticket : basically using high - hurrying , high-pitched - endangerment development of space vehicle .
2:18PM First they are go to use low - cost prospector , called the Arkyd-100 Series . They have these now already . They will be go under in low - earth orbit to situate the asteroid . As they run in cataloguing possible targets , they will be developing the Arkyd-300 series , which will form swarm of mining robots that will touch and take the Near Earth Asteroids .
2:22PM Tom Jones has adopt the point now . I hope he sings It ’s Not Unusual .
2:24PM Tom , who used to be a NASA astronaut and also studied near - Earth asteroids , is explicate how we are capable of reach now : about 1,500 of them .
Some of them will not even require actual mining , as they are grouping of rubble loosely held together . He says that it ’s logical to reckon a machine that will snap up this material to bring it back to Earth . Some of these asteroid are rich in water , and those could be used to establish place flatulency station for solar organisation exploration . Machines would heat up the asteroid material so water system vaporise and gets captured for its legal separation in hydrogen and atomic number 8 .
2:31PM Tom believes that , unless we set out rein these elements , we will not be capable to keep a larger permanent presence in space . They are aiming at jumpstarting a whole raw manufacture between Earth and the Moon .
2:35PM Ross Perot Jr. has joined the conference from Texas , who apart from being a man of affairs is also a big aerospace fan and the first guy to go around the world in an helicopter .
He did n’t say a lot of thing , but his audio connexion was bad . Or he was eating delicious BBQ .
2:38PM They have finished the presentation but the Q&A is starting now . If you have any questions beyond the obvious , tell apart me and I will ask . Write to[email protected ] .
Q&A
Can you explain what you intend to do in two year time ?
They will be launching the first Arkyd 100 serial spacecraft , a serial of little telescopes / prospector that will be networked together , flying in low - globe orbit .
They will be using this to essay technology for the Arkyd 200 serial publication . They want to launch a mint of them , in an gathering line . Make them sleazy , so they can set up them apace and do n’t worry about losing them .
When are you going to be sending the drove of spacecraft ?
They are not give any last timelines . First they are buy the farm to be prospect from low - earth orbit , then the Arkyd 200 — which will have propulsors — will get near . Within a decennary , they will launch the Arkyd 300 probes that will reach the asteroids that they want to use .
What is going to grow the jillion of dollars ?
These will come over the next few 10 , from both rare alloy excavation and from water as fuel in blank .
Are you give out to sell the data point you collect from the Arkyd meshing ?
They are fit to be sharing the data point .
Are you go to be launch spaceman too or just robots ?
Only automaton . Eventually they may collaborate with NASA to work in manned deputation , but not for mining . It will be too expensive to apply humans . It ’s not secure business .
What ’s the mathematics of these missions , the monetary value of launching and bring it back ?
He will not go into the math , but he ’s arguing that a small-scale asteroid — if you happen the proper kind — will compensate for itself and give billions of dollar in welfare .
He advert that a 50 - metre - in - diameter asteroid with just 20 % water represents the entire fuel spent on the shuttle course of study .
Where are you building and from where are you launching ?
They are building the Arkyd probe in Bellevue , Seattle . They will be launching them alongside other planet .
Do you have any contracts with NASA or other companies ?
They one contract bridge with NASA — working in oculus — and other contracts company and public government agency . They started employment in 2009 , apparently .
Could you use the Arkyd 100 for Earth reflexion ?
Yes , you may .
The league is over now .
place
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