[meteorite-list] Asteroid Mining Plans Revealed by Planetary Resources, Inc

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:04:35 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201204242104.q3OL4ZjU007606_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.planetaryresources.com/2012/04/asteroid-mining-plans-revealed-by-planetary-resources-inc/

Asteroid mining plans revealed by Planetary Resources, Inc.
Expanding the resource base of humanity to include the solar system

Seattle, Wash. - April 24, 2012 - Planetary Resources, Inc. announced
today its plan to mine Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) for raw materials,
ranging from water to precious metals. Through the development of
cost-effective exploration technologies, the company is poised to
initiate prospecting missions targeting resource-rich asteroids that are
easily accessible.

Resource extraction from asteroids will deliver multiple benefits to
humanity and grow to be valued at tens of billions of dollars annually.
The effort will tap into the high concentration of precious metals found
on asteroids and provide a sustainable supply to the ever-growing
population on Earth.

A single 500-meter platinum-rich asteroid contains the equivalent of all
the Platinum Group Metals mined in history. "Many of the scarce metals
and minerals on Earth are in near-infinite quantities in space. As
access to these materials increases, not only will the cost of
everything from microelectronics to energy storage be reduced, but new
applications for these abundant elements will result in important and
novel applications," said Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Co-Founder and
Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources, Inc.

Additionally, water-rich NEAs will serve as "stepping stones" for deep
space exploration, providing space-sourced fuel and water to orbiting
depots. Accessing water resources in space will revolutionize
exploration and make space travel dramatically more economical.

"Water is perhaps the most valuable resource in space. Accessing a
water-rich asteroid will greatly enable the large-scale exploration of
the solar system. In addition to supporting life, water will also be
separated into oxygen and hydrogen for breathable air and rocket
propellant," said Eric Anderson, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman,
Planetary Resources, Inc.

Of the approximately 9,000 known NEAs, there are more than 1,500 that
are energetically as easy to reach as the Moon. The capability to
characterize NEAs is on the critical path for Planetary Resources.
To that end, the company has developed the first line in its family of
deep-space prospecting spacecraft, the Arkyd-100 Series. The spacecraft
will be used in low-Earth orbit and ultimately help prioritize the first
several NEA targets for the company's follow-on Arkyd-300 Series NEA
swarm expeditions. Chris Lewicki, President and Chief Engineer, said
"Our mission is not only to expand the world's resource base, but we
want to increase people's access to, and understanding of, our planet
and solar system by developing capable and cost-efficient systems."

"The promise of Planetary Resources is to apply commercial innovation to
space exploration. They are developing cost-effective, production-line
spacecraft that will visit near-Earth asteroids in rapid succession,
increasing our scientific knowledge of these bodies and enabling the
economic development of the resources they contain," said Tom Jones,
Ph.D., veteran NASA astronaut, planetary scientist and Planetary
Resources, Inc. advisor.

Planetary Resources, Inc. is financed by industry-launching visionaries,
including Google CEO Larry Page and Ross Perot, Jr., Chairman of Hillwood
and The Perot Group, who are committed to expanding the world's resource
base so that humanity can continue to grow and prosper:

    * Eric E. Schmidt, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of Google, Inc.
      (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Planetary Resources, Inc. investor: "The pursuit
      of resources drove the discovery of America and opened the West.
      The same drivers still hold true for opening the space frontier.
      Expanding the resource base for humanity is important for our future."

    * K. Ram Shriram, Founder of Sherpalo, Google Board of Directors
      founding member and Planetary Resources, Inc. investor: "I see the
      same potential in Planetary Resources as I did in the early days
      of Google."

    * Charles Simonyi, Ph.D., Chairman of Intentional Software
      Corporation and Planetary Resources, Inc. investor: "The
      commercialization of space began with communications satellites
      and is developing for human spaceflight. The next logical step is
      to begin the innovative development of resources from space. I'm
      proud to be part of this effort.'

Some of the company's advisors include film maker and explorer James Cameron;
General T. Michael Moseley (Ret.); Sara Seager, Ph.D.; Mark Sykes, Ph.D.;
and David Vaskevitch.

Founded in 2009 by Eric Anderson and Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Planetary
Resources, Inc. is establishing a new paradigm for resource utilization
that will bring the solar system within humanity's economic sphere of
influence by enabling low-cost robotic exploration and eventual
commercial development of asteroids. For more information, please visit
www.PlanetaryResources.com <http://www.planetaryresources.com/>.
Received on Tue 24 Apr 2012 05:04:35 PM PDT