Next week, on April 24th, a new business venture called Planetary Resources will make an announcement as to exactly what it is all about. It’s backed by James Cameron, Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, politicians like Ross Perot Jr. and even more movers and shakers. NASA people are also in on it including former mission manager Chris Lewicki and astronaut Tom Jones. Considering the skills of all assembled, many are conjecturing that Planetary Resources will be the world’s first asteroid mining business. The initial announcement claimed the project would create “a new industry and a new definition of ‘natural resources.'”
The head of the operation is X Prize founder Peter Diamandis who, during the 2005 TED conference said “everything we hold of value on this planet-metal and mineral and real estate and energy [are available] in infinite quantities’ [in space]”
He unfortunately did not say “I’m the king of space” but we’re pretty sure James Cameron did. In all seriousness, the Planetary Resources announcement will be streamed live next Tuesday and you can buy a ticket to an event on the Museum of Flight’s webpage, where the announcement is rumored to take place.
In our lifetime, could we see a world where asteroid mining changes the face of our ecomony?
[News via The Verge via Technology Review]
Stubby the Rocket is the mascot of Tor.com and has been to those asteroids already. They are no fun.
