[meteorite-list] Private Asteroid-Mining Project Launching Tiny Satellites in 2014

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.space.com/20817-asteroid-mining-satellite-test-flight.html 

Private Asteroid-Mining Project Launching Tiny Satellites in 2014
by Mike Wall
space.com
24 April 2013 

A billionaire-backed asteroid-mining company aims to start putting its 
big plans into action soon, launching its first hardware into space by 
this time next year.

Planetary Resources, which counts Google execs Larry Page and Eric Schmidt 
among its investors, plans to loft a set of tiny "cubesats" to Earth orbit 
in early 2014, to test out gear for its first line of asteroid-prospecting 
spacecraft.

"Our belief and our philosophy is that the best testbed is space itself," 
Chris Voorhees, Planetary Resources' vice president of spacecraft 
development, said Wednesday (April 24) during a Google+ Hangout event. 

"Despite the fact that we're a deep-space company, we're going to use Earth 
orbit as much as possible," Voorhees added. "For us, it's a valuable 
learning experience, and that's what we plan on doing one year hence."

The cubesats slated for launch in 2014 will measure 12 inches long by 4 inches 
wide by 4 inches tall (30 by 10 by 10 centimeters), company officials said. 
These "Arkyd-3" satellites will test out technologies for Planetary Resources' 
Arkyd-100 scouts, which the firm hopes to launch to low-Earth orbit on 
asteroid-hunting missions in 2015.

The Arkyd-3 "is the testbed manifestation of our Arkyd-100 spacecraft. It just 
happens to be flying," Voorhees said.

A series of other robotic probes beyond the 33-pound (15 kilograms) Arkyd-100 
will investigate near-Earth asteroids up close, eventually mining suitable 
ones for resources such as water and precious metals. Water is the key 
focus at first, because it is the key enabler of off-Earth living, Planetary 
Resources officials said.

Water can keep astronauts hydrated, obviously, and serve as a shield against 
dangerous radiation. Split into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen, it can 
also provide breathable air and rocket fuel, allowing voyaging spaceships to 
fill up on the go.

Sourcing water in space will make space travel much cheaper and more efficient, 
Planetary Resources president Chris Lewicki said, noting that it currently 
costs about $10,000 to launch 1 liter (0.26 gallons) of water to low-Earth 
orbit.

"Water is the gateway drug of space. It's the enabler - in a good way, though," 
Lewicki said.

Planetary Resources held Wednesday's Google+ Hangout partly to mark the 
one-year anniversary of the company's public unveiling. After Planetary 
Resources announced its existence and intentions last year, another 
asteroid-mining firm called Deep Space Industries made its presence known as 
well.

Both companies hope their activities help spur humanity's push out into the 
solar system, officials have said.