At the end of May (2013), Planetary Resources – the company that plans to do asteroid mining in the not too distant future – a said they were going to make an announcement that would open up space to everyone. Here’s a recording of their news conference:
They, in partnership with The Planetary Society and the Museum of Flight, initiated a KickStarter project to fund the first ARKYD space telescope:
You can find the KickStarter project here
The ARKYD is a technologically advanced, orbiting space telescope that will be controlled by YOU, the crowd, through your pledges and community involvement! You can even direct your telescope time to non-profit science centers and universities for use in your communities!
Just think about the true impact of this endeavor for a moment. Together people can provide access to technology, that costs tens of millions of dollars, into the hands of students, scientists and a new generation of explorers, who will use it in ways we can’t even fathom yet!
At Planetary Resources, the primary focus is mining asteroids, and they’re pushing the boundaries of what is possible by vertically integrating and applying innovations from consumer-based industries. Their goal is to reduce the cost of space observatories many times over, allowing anyone to access them for their own use. They want to empower the crowd to solve the big problems of our time — and this is the first step to making that a reality.
This project will only be funded if at least $1,000,000 is pledged by Sunday Jun 30, 10:00pm EDT, and to date (12 days after being announced) $843,776 has been pledged. Looks like there’s a lot of interest in this.
You can pledge your own money at the KickStarter project here.
Filed under: Announcements
