Transforming space travel with Asteroid mining
- There are currently around 16,000 near-earth asteroids, which may contain as much as two trillion tonnes of water, as well as other precious resources such as Gold, Titanium and Iron. It has been described as a kind of 'galactic gold rush'. There are starup companies racing to develop technologies to start mining asteroids. Thier pioneering work could transform our ability to explore the universe, as well as transform our own economy.
- This company, currently selling satallites, has secured funding from NASA. It is developing spacecraft technologies that are needed for asteroid mining. The world’s first commercial interplanetary mining mission, Prospector-1, will fly to a near-Earth asteroid, and investigate the object to determine its value.
- This Space start-up company is based in Luxembourg and the United States with over 70 employees. Planetary Resources aims to develop a robotic asteroid mining industry. The initial plans are for developing small cost-reduced space telescopes for Earth observation and astronomy. The deployment of orbital telescopes will be the first step. The same telescope satellite capabilities sold to customers can be used to survey near-Earth asteroids.
Deep Space Industries (DSI)
Planetary Resources, Inc
