James Cameron Space Miner

[dude]

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/18/2957585/planetary-resources-space-exploration-company-james-cameron-google

MIT's Technology Review has just gotten news of a mysterious new project that claims it will "create a new industry and a new definition of 'natural resources.'" Space exploration company Planetary Resources will be unveiled in a conference call on Tuesday, April 24th. Besides the audacious announcement, which promises to "overlay two critical sectors — space exploration and natural resources — to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP," what makes this unique is its high-profile support group. The venture is backed by Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, director James Cameron, and politician Ross Perot's son, among others.



We're left to ponder, however, what Planetary Resources will actually do. Technology Review speculates that the project is an asteroid mining operation, reasoning that the other natural resources we need — an Earth-like habitat and supply of fossil fuels — aren't going to be found in space any time soon. Looking at the evidence, asteroid mining seems pretty likely at this point, especially since X Prize founder and perpetual optimist Peter Diamandis is at the head of the operation. In 2005, Diamandis appeared at TED describing an extraterrestrial environment where "everything we hold of value on this planet — metal and minerals and real estate and energy" are available in "infinite quantities." He specifically singled out asteroid mining, claiming that he could finance mining a "20 trillion dollar" asteroid full of nickel-iron alloy by speculating in the precious metals market.

The three other members listed — entrepreneur Eric Anderson, astronaut Tom Jones, and former NASA mission manager Chris Lewicki — will almost certainly affect the project, but it's more difficult to tie their work to a potential goal. Eric Anderson's experience is primarily in space tourism, which could create a new industry but probably wouldn't add up to trillions of dollars, and Jones and Lewicki have stayed mum on any grand plans.

Next week, we'll be finding out for certain what's going on, and then Planetary Resources will have to start actually making good on its impressive claims. The event will apparently be streamed, and tickets are being sold on the Museum of Flight's page, although the information there makes no mention of a new company.

Regardless of what Planetary Resources turns out to be, its backers aren't the only ones interested in exploring space. Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, who we interviewed last month, has pushed for a modern space race, and private company SpaceX may be building its own "commercial Cape Canaveral" in Texas.

[deezelboy]

Ok, that's fucking weird, if it's asteroid mining.

It's gotta be the Moon, surely? I would've though asteroid mining's at least a couple of centuries away.

[Tryfan915]

It's gotta be the Moon, surely?

I didn't think cloning was advanced enough for that yet.   

[beckmen]

Three cheers for Space Rape!

[Faltskogian]

I've heard that James "King of the world" Cameron's ego can be seen from the surface of the moon.

 

[dude]

Wasn't Avatar about how space mining is bad?

[Faltskogian]

Wasn't Avatar about how space mining is bad?

Only on planets full of blue idiots flying around on pantomime turkeys.

 

[LargeLeader]

Just goes to show, James "What a fucking hypocrite I am, right guys?" Cameron has money to burn.

[Hieronymus]

I think Cameron has now officially lost track of the difference between reality and his movies.

Not that this is a bad thing, mind you.  I think most of the progress we make as humans comes as a result of someone not being told "it's impossible" frequently enough.

[deezelboy]

Blimey! It is near-Earth asteroid mining.

Planetary Resources, based in Bellevue, Washington, initially will focus on developing and selling extremely low-cost robotic spacecraft for surveying missions.

A demonstration mission in orbit around Earth is expected to be launched within two years, said company co-founders Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson.

...

Planetary Resources' first customers are likely to be science agencies, such as NASA, as well as private research institutes.

Within five to 10 years, however, the company expects to progress from selling observation platforms in orbit around Earth to prospecting services. It plans to tap some of the thousands of asteroids that pass relatively close to Earth and extract their raw materials.

Not all missions would return precious metals and minerals to Earth. In addition to mining for platinum and other precious metals, the company plans to tap asteroids' water to supply orbiting fuel depots, which could be used by NASA and others for robotic and human space missions.

"We have a long view. We're not expecting this company to be an overnight financial home run. This is going to take time," Anderson said in an interview with Reuters.

The real payoff, which is decades away, will come from mining asteroids for platinum group metals and rare minerals.

"If you look back historically at what has caused humanity to make its largest investments in exploration and in transportation, it has been going after resources, whether it's the Europeans going after the spice routes or the American settlers looking toward the west for gold, oil, timber or land," Diamandis said.

"Those precious resources caused people to make huge investments in ships and railroads and pipelines. Looking to space, everything we hold of value on Earth - metals, minerals, energy, real estate, water - is in near-infinite quantities in space. The opportunity exists to create a company whose mission is to be able to go and basically identify and access some of those resources and ultimately figure out how to make them available where they are needed," he said.

Diamandis and Anderson declined to discuss how much money has been raised for their venture so far....

Planetary Resources also declined to discuss specifics about how and when asteroid mining would begin. A 30-meter long (98-foot) asteroid can hold as much as $25 billion to $50 billion worth of platinum at today's prices, Diamandis said.

The company's first step is to develop technologies to cut the cost of deep-space robotic probes to one-tenth to one-hundredth the cost of current space missions, which run hundreds of millions of dollars, Diamandis said.

...

"We're taking new approaches at design," Diamandis said. "Part of the philosophy we're taking is building very low cost, very small spacecraft. You put up six or 10 or dozens and you get reliability."

Planetary Resources, which currently employs about 20 people, is overseen by former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki. It was founded about three years ago, but has been operating quietly behind the scenes until now.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/24/us-space-asteroid-mining-idUSBRE83N06U20120424

Ok, so sounds like their first step is to put up a satellite and have a look at some near-Earth asteroids. They can then sell or hire out whatever tech and expertise they have in placing satellites in orbit. That makes sense - US space capability's pretty much dead now.

Short- to mid-term - create and develop Hayabusa-like probes, at a fraction of the cost (Hayabusa 2's currently around the $2bn mark, I think) - but then again, they're talking about multiple redundancy, so maybe not so much in the way of cost savings compared to current missions.

Extremely long term - intercept and tow back an asteroid, and mine it for resources (not necessarily in that order).

Short term sounds like an ok way to keep the company afloat until they reach the mid-term goals of sending out probes. Still sounds like actual asteroid mining's a long way off, though.

Not too sure what to make of Diamandis' example regarding the history of exploration. Space is vastly different to Earth.

[Hieronymus]

Not too sure what to make of Diamandis' example regarding the history of exploration. Space is vastly different to Earth.

I think he's on the mark.  Space is hard; no one's going to invest in exploration unless they think they can get rich off of it - even if expanding into space is the only way to ensure humanity's long-term survival.

[deezelboy]

But the one lesson we've learnt from the history of space exploration is that humans are a waste of a payload. The only reason we put them up there in the first place was as costly pieces of propaganda.

Using spice routes or the New World as examples seems like he's appealing to some naive romanticism. Teleoperated deep sea mining or, if you really really needed the human element, oil rigs would have been more honest (although way less cool), though even this is stretching it.

[Hudson]