Company aims to turn sci-fi of asteroid mining into profitable fact

Planetary Resources, Inc. held a coming-out party at Seattle’s Museum of Flight Tuesday morning, with co-founder and co-chairman Peter Diamandis spelling out the simple, yet audacious, aim of the company.

“The vision of Planetary Resources is to make the resources of space available to man both in space and here on Earth,” he said.

The leadership of Planetary Resources, Inc. gathered at the
Museum of Flight April 24 for a news conference to talk
about the company's plans to mine asteroids. From L-R:
Peter Diamandis, Eric Anderson, Chris Lewicki, and
Tom Jones. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

Diamandis acknowledged the wild, science-fiction nature of the notion of sending robots to asteroids to mine them for the resources we need on Earth and to further explore space. In fact, he gives sci-fi credit for shaping his personal dreams, held since his early teens, of being an asteroid miner.

“Part of it is the spirit of extraordinary writers and artists like Heinlein and Clarke and Bonestell who envisioned what the future would look like,” he said. “Ultimately my passion about opening up space makes the vision of asteroid mining not only a reality, but something that we need to do.”

The company is on a fast track. Eric Anderson, co-founder and co-chairman, said they plan to launch their first spacecraft within 24 months, and seemed a bit taken aback at the enthusiastic applause the announcement generated.

“This company is not about paper studies. This company is not about thinking and dreaming about asteroid mining,” Anderson said. “This company is about creating a space economy beyond the Earth. It’s about building real hardware. It’s about doing real things in space to move the needle forward.”

The concept is attractively simple. Use private investors and innovators to drive down the cost of space exploration. Get the technology up in space to start examining the nine thousand near-Earth asteroids to determine which might be rich in water and precious minerals useful here on the home planet and to those who may further explore space. Send up robots to mine those materials and bring them home.

Sure, it may sound easy.

“It’s very difficult, no question,” Diamandis said, “but the return economically and the benefits for humanity are extraordinary.”

Anderson agreed.

“There will be times when we fail, there will be times when we have to pick up the pieces and try again. But we’re going to do it,” he said. “We’re not going to talk about it, we’re just going to do it.”

Planetary Resources is based in Bellevue, Wash. Chris Lewicki, the company’s president and chief engineer, said they looked at a lot of places before settling on the Seattle area.

A model of the Arkyd 101, the space telescope Planetary Resources
plans to launch within the next 24 months to start prospecting for
asteroids to mine. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

“Some of our investors were here, some of our partners were here, and it’s a beautiful place to live,” Lewicki said in explaining the choice. “All of the infrastructure and the industry that’s in the area is what we need to be able to do this.”

The company has been in existence since 2009 under the name Arkyd Aeronautics. Planetary Resources spacecraft will bear the Arkyd name. Part of the reason they’re going public with a big splash now is that they need to hire more engineers, according to Lewicki. Diamandis added that the game has changed.

“There’s a rising tide going on right now in commercial space,” he said, noting the booming investment in launch technology and in lunar and asteroid missions. Having more capital is a big deal. “That changes the equation and allows us to go much further much faster than ever before in opening up space for the benefit of all.”

The investors, for the most part, remained on the sideline, though one of them, Ross Perot, Jr., praised the effort by telephone and Charles Simonyi was on hand to make a few remarks.

“I don’t think this would be an appropriate investment for NASA,” Simonyi said of the venture. “I think that this is where private enterprise comes in. The genius of the system is that private investors can take the risks.”

“I’m very excited about what you guys are doing, I’m very proud of you and feel privileged to be a part of it,” he added.

They’ve certainly generated some buzz. A large group of reporters turned out for the news conference and hundreds of people chipped in $25 for lunch to hear about it first hand. It’s fair to say most of them are boosters. It will be interesting to watch the dream unfold.

Astronomy, theatre, baseball, and the blues

In addition to gazing at stars, Seattle Astronomy loves theatre, baseball, and the blues. So when I found out today that this year’s Astronomical League convention in Chicago includes visits to the Yerkes Observatory and Adler Planetarium, a play, and a gig by the rockin’ Astronomy Magazine Blues Band, I started making plans to visit the Windy City on the Fourth of July.

The Astronomy Magazine Blues Band will play a couple of
sets on the final day of this year's Astronomical League Convention
in Chicago. The band, L-R, is Mike Soliday, Jeff Felbab, Keith
Bauer, and Astronomy editor Dave Eicher.
Photo: Astronomy Magazine Blues Band.

I have to admit that AlCon 2012 wasn’t even on my radar until this item turned up in my newsreader this morning. The notion that Astronomy magazine staffers have a blues band covering the likes of Hendrix, Cream, The Band, Koko Taylor, Muddy Waters, and more was just so mind-bogglingly cool that I immediately started investigating the event. It turns out that there is a lot of fun stuff to do in connection with the convention. I love a good astronomy lecture more than most guys, but the real fun is in the extracurricular activities.

July 4 features a field trip to the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum of Natural History. We paid a visit to Adler in November 2010 during a Chicago layover on a cross-country train trip. It’s chock full of great stuff, including lots of Apollo 13 memorabilia from Jim Lovell, who is a trustee of Adler and now runs a steak house in the Chicago area. The planetarium itself was closed for renovations during our last visit, so I’m looking forward to a longer stay, to seeing a planetarium show, and to tacking the Field Museum onto the itinerary.

The next day features a road trip to Batavia and Fermilab, where conventioneers will learn about particle physics and dark matter, and then see the play Creation’s Birthday, which is all about understanding the science and philosophies of 100 years ago. Characters include Edwin Hubble, Henrietta Leavitt, Father Georges Lemaitre, and Albert Einstein. The convention materials describe presenter Hassam Padamsee as a “playwright and CERN scientist”, a description that puts me in mind of today’s drive to educate scientists and engineers at the expense of education in the arts. As noted above we love science and arts, and don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.

July 6 is the day for the field trip to Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, and a look at the famed Alvin Clark 40-inch refractor. About eight years ago I attended a business meeting in Lake Geneva, just a hop and a skip away. Unfortunately, Yerkes was closed during my entire time there. The observatory is only open for public tours on Saturdays, so we’re lucky to get a look on a Friday with the AL group.

Finally on Saturday the Astronomical League holds its awards banquet and the Astronomy Magazine Blues Band plays a couple of sets. It all happens July 4-7 at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort in the North Chicago suburbs. Registration materials are online here. If you can’t make it, Seattle Astronomy will likely be on hand and will post dispatches (if there’s time amid all the fun!)

Oh, yes, and there is baseball. The Cubs are on the road during this week, but the White Sox are at home. I expect I’ll sneak away for a ballgame.

Seattle Astronomy may well be a dork, but this sounds like a heavenly trip. And Astronomical League, take note: the sale was made by a blues band!