‘Mining Asteroids’: James Cameron and Google to Search for Natural Resources in…Outer Space?
- Posted on April 21, 2012 at 6:45pm by
Erica Ritz
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(NewsCore/The Blaze) A new company backed by two Google billionaires, film director James Cameron and other space exploration proponents is aiming high in the hunt for natural resources — with mining asteroids the possible target.
The venture, called Planetary Resources Inc., revealed little in a press release this week except to say that it would “overlay two critical sectors — space exploration and natural resources — to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP“ and ”help ensure humanity’s prosperity.”
The company is formally unveiling its plans at an event Tuesday in Seattle.
While the announcement may cause some people to snicker at what could be a page out of a sci-fi novel or a Hollywood movie scene, Planetary Resources is making its debut just as scientists at NASA and other groups are embracing the notion of mining “near-Earth asteroids” and providing blueprints for how such a feat would be accomplished.
The possibility of extracting raw materials such as iron and nickel from asteroids has been discussed for decades, but the cost, scientific expertise and technical prowess of fulfilling such as feat have remained an obstacle.
NASA experts have projected it could cost tens of billions of dollars and take well over a decade to land astronauts on an asteroid– and then who knows what the cost of extracting and transporting the natural resources could be.
Tuesday’s event is being hosted by Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson, known for their efforts to develop commercial space exploration, and two former NASA officials.
Diamandis, a driving force behind the Ansari X-Prize competition to spur non-governmental space flight, has long discussed his goal to become an asteroid miner.
Peter Diamandis
“I believe that opening up the resources of space for the benefit of humanity is critical,” he said in an interview with Forbes magazine earlier this year about plans to launch an asteroid mining company.
Planetary Resources lists reputable names as members of its “investor and adviser group,” including Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive and executive chairman, respectively; James Cameron; former Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi; Ram Shriram, a Google director and venture capitalist; and Ross Perot Jr., son of the Texas technology entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Ross Perot.
Former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki is listed in the press release as the president and chief engineer of Planetary Resources, with Diamandis and Anderson as co-chairmen.
While none of the men could be reached for comment, Michio Kaku, a physics professor at City University of New York, aptly summarized, “If you put two Google billionaires with Microsoft billionaires with some astronauts together, you can’t go wrong.”
“I think private enterprise will boldly go where governments fear to tread. And I think the space program has been in purgatory in the last few years. NASA is an agency to nowhere. So, we need private enterprise, especially people with deep pockets to help jump start the program and maybe mining the heavens is just the ticket,” he concluded.
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Comments (65)
mrawfull
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 12:45amHow long before there will be SPA, or Space Protection Agency? An equivalent to the EPA. We really need to protect the space environment and all of its prescious limited resources.
Report Post »TheInfidelCrusader
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 1:45amExactly… Private companies will take all the risks and investments in mining in space and governments will be waiting at the launch pad for their return to redistribute the space companies wealth by taxes, regulations and fines.
Report Post »MS-GlenNBC
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:52amHow Crazy was it when Newt Gingrich Said we should have a colony on the Moon??????
Congressman Dan Burton on Newt and his comments should be directed to Glenn Fat and Stu-pid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYv8o0BSA5A&feature=share
Just signed into the Blaze…. Already my Computer Fan is at high speed. What Cookies and Tracking does the Blaze put on your computer. Glenn is going to make 80 Million dollars this year. Sold to Advertisers and who else.. Go ahead and pay your 10 dollars for love at Texas Stadium…. Question NOT with Boldness Glenn but everything he tells you to question.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:10amWe are Predators! We use and consume Animals & Minerals (eat & build) and look for more! And, you cannot hide it with Suits & Ties!
Report Post »Icnivad
Posted on April 24, 2012 at 9:05pmI don’t see anything wrong with eating and building. Better to be a predator than prey. And no, what I said does not relate to life, and blah blah blah. ;)
Report Post »trueamerican40
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 12:42amCameron and his commie crooks are mocking us! ‘Look how my comrade barrack has mucked up everything for all of you stupid christian Americans…of course the EPA won’t allow it to come to pass.’ Hey commies, my treasures are in heaven—where are yours?
Report Post »Skee
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 10:09pmU.S. govt. will form an outerspace EPA and kill it.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 11:27pmNo plastic grocery bags in space!!! lol They will kill the dolphins.
Report Post »OldBee
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 1:18pmWell we can’t have all that Rocket Exhaust fouling up the air
Report Post »txn4justice
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 9:45pmAs long as James Cameron, Goggle and the Democratic Party are working on it; everything is going to be just fine.
Report Post »MtrmnMike
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 9:27pmI think it’s a great idea…especially that private $ will be investing & researching the technology. However, I don’t think bringing those resources back to Earth will be worth the cost, at least with current launch technologies. If the ‘space elevator’ could be developed (ala “The Fountain of Paradise” by Arthur C. Clarke), then this idea might be feasable.
Report Post »The best use of extra-terrestrial resources would be in the construction of devoted space-based habitats, inter-planetary craft, etc, thereby obviating the need for bringing them up from Earth. Also, being able to go to asteroids, especially Earth-crossers that could eventually threaten us, have an additional benefit by diverting them into safe orbits (either Solar, Terran or Lunar).
We‘re still in the early stages of becoming a ’space-fairing civilization’, and this could be a positive step.
LadyLibertykicksASS
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 12:56pmI vote that All Progressives and their offspring be sent to a space colony for re-education ……. All In Favor?????
Report Post »Icnivad
Posted on April 24, 2012 at 9:11pmTerraform and settle the moon and Mars. Let’s have all liberals, progressives, socialists, communists, extremists, etc. move to Mars for free. They can do their thing and nobody back at Earth has to give a crap. The moon becomes a prison. Everybody’s happy!
Report Post »Icnivad
Posted on April 24, 2012 at 9:16pmJust eject cases of minerals into the ocean, then have them picked up! Simple!
Report Post »BigAl78
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 5:50pm@LADYLIBERTYKICKSASS
Report Post »You are a scary individual. That line of thought is exactly what was seen in Soviet Russia when people were sent to the gulags for having dissenting views. Oh, and ironically enough, progressives tend to be more educated. I’ll just let you dwell on that.
Therightsofbilly
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 11:27pmBIGAL
Correction: Progressives are more “indoctrinated”.
Trust me on that…….even if you did not notice it happening.
Just ask Clive
I’ll just let you continue to dwell in your parents basement.
Report Post »Mr.Fitnah
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 9:02pmIf seeding the moon and mars is not in their vision they have nothing .
Report Post »We should have been sending Oxygen and water and algae to prospective planets and moons for years .
We should have had robots digging for 20 years on the moon.
But no ,we have to have the feed the lazy program.
Well now lets send the lazy to the moon, and let them pay for the air they breath.
Let their corpses fertilize the dirt on Mars.
We will no give up the future to coddle the uninspired eaters.
Kerstile
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:20amFor those mocking that there will be a space EPA, read @Mr. Fitna, April21, 9:02 PM. Its already in place. All of the robotic explorers on Mars are sterilized so that “we” do not “contaminate” the planet. Yes, yes, the search for extra-terrestrial life requires we do so. Here’s the thing: who cares if there is Martian bacteria! Terraform it and see who wins; its bugs or ours.
From my understanding, Luna can hold an atmosphere. Making one would be pretty problematic though. Mars has more water so may be easier to terraform. Ain’t gonna happen. The Lunartics of the environmental movement won’t let it.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:17amIf you screw with the Moon… the Axis of the Earth will lose stability, and the Planet will Freeze!
If you Colonize another Planet… in time, they will Rebel… starting a Space War… and the Earth will become Toast!
Choose your Cup… wisely!
Report Post »Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:59pmI support this idea, space is the only frontier left. Imagine Obama trying to regulate someone mining in the asteroid belt. If you do that I’ll.. I’ll… I’ll … I’ll…
Report Post »larryj1978
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:51pmWe can’t even get a pipeline to get oil from Canada but these guys want to go to space to get resources? I wish these guys would just pull their money together and buy an island for all the 1 percenters to go live their Utopian dream.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:40pmWith NASA packing it’s bags and taking the pictures down from the walls – Private Enterprise has EVERY right to fill the gap. If someone has the ****** to explore the possibilities of obtaining ore from another planet and/or asteroid…HAVE AT IT! If they fork over the $$$ to make it so, then they should be able to reap the benefits OR take the financial hit depending upon the results.
OMG-did I just describe Capitalism 101???
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 10:02pmHonestly??? Go*a*s will not be printed? It’s NOT a dirty word. Frankly, it’s fairly descriptive- will testies be allowed to pass? Just in case not – test**s.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 11:29pmnote to self….testies IS allowed. whew! lol
Report Post »marcus_arealius
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:37pmTake all the Demorats in Congress to outer space and stay there.
Go ahead, spend a trillion or two getting a backhoe into space and back with a bucket of rocks. It will at least invigorate thousands of subcontractors with work to support the attempt.. er, except for one demokkrat problem, none of the contractors will be Americans. No, just like DOE, you’ll send all your machining and parts projects to China and India. Yeah, go ahead and make your billions here and send them elsewhere like a socialist.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:52pmYeah I don’t see it happening.
Report Post »Tracy Y. Andersen
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:35pm@RIGHT-WING-WACO
best double entendre joke of the day !!!!!!!
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:31pmWhy don’t you just use a Tractor-Beam like the one that created The Richat Structure?
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:33pmOh that’s right, you’re not allowed to do that….haha.
Report Post »llotus
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:30pmThat sounds like the truest, energy prices will necassarily sky rocket. Can`t even imagine the price of that. Is the the reason they canned NASA? These people are realy freaky. Lotus.
Report Post »TJexcite
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:29pmSo, some how it will be economically feasible to go to space for a unobtainium and than go under ground or sea to get the same resource. Did he not make a movie about that..marketing for Avatar pt 2.
It would be fun to see if they do go with their own billion and find oil or other hydrocarbon as only life can make them but found an a asteroid that is billions of years old. Just what could be mined on an asteroid that did not need heat and pressure of a planet to concentrate like gold or make like diamonds from carbon.
Report Post »MtrmnMike
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 10:12pmThere won’t be any oil or coal deposits, as there wasn’t life there to begin with to produce them. However, stony asteroids will have abundant amounts of rocky, carbon-based material that could be used in space for the construction of future habitats, inter-planetary vehicles, etc.
Report Post »There‘s also a smaller percentage of asteroids that are ’metal-rich’, having huge amounts of iron and nickel. While diamonds won’t be present, there could be deposits of ‘precious’ elements, i.e. gold, silver, platinum, etc, which are products of stellar evolution, synthesized in stars long before our sun & planet came into existence (as ALL of the elements here on Earth are).
Again, it won’t make any sense (esp economically) to bring these resources back to Earth…at least with current launch & recovery technologies. But they could be usefull in space-devoted construction.
The Die Is Cast
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 4:36pmI thought it was the height of irony that the man who made the movie preaching about man’s greed in outer space would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Was “Avatar” a freudian slip? Are they going to name the asteroid, Pandora?
Report Post »hi
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:29pmThey are really arrogant that they are doing this to save humanity.
Report Post »teebubba
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 1:40amArrogance aside…At some point in the future portions of the human race will have to travel in space to survive. Just the evolution of our Sun will eventually lead to its expansion and combustion of the earth with the heat. For mankind to survive the population will have to move. These gents are just thinking ahead a little bit.
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:00pm…
Report Post »GOOGLE is in bed with Obama.
No good can come from anything they are involved in.
NancyBee
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:24pmI agree…………..people…you might want to think about this
Report Post »13th Generation American
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:55pmI’m not surprised it takes Progressives like Google and Cameron to make this happen. I‘m glad they are both backing President Obama’s Reelection.
Report Post »seeker9
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:47pmWhy on earth would anyone want BHO reelected?
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:54pm…
Report Post »There are plenty of resources to mine and drill for here in America, but the Liberals won’t let us get it. They want us to stay dependent on other countries.
VoteRightDammit
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:49pm“private enterprise will boldly go where governments fear to tread.”
Not “GOVERNMENTS” ………….
The OBAMA government.
Report Post »beullar
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:18pmGO for it!!!! Capitalism at its finest!!!! Show the moronic leftists what REAL entrepreneurs can do!
Report Post »Darla_K
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:51pmWatch out! Here comes Obummer with a big stick and the EPA.
Report Post »Chris
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:15pmWhether this particular company succeeds or fails, private industry mining asteroids is a really good idea. It opens up a new source of resources and it helps to build a space industry in another area where only governments are currently working. For years NASA (and its predecessor NACA) have been doing high-risk and precompetitive research that is transferred to the US aircraft industry. They then invest their own money to develop these concepts into products that they can sell. (Part of the agency’s goal has been to support the US aircraft industry, particularly in the face of direct subsidies by foreign governemts to their own aircrafe industries to help them compete against the US.)
Report Post »This model can work well as a real space industry grows – instead of mining asteroids NASA would support the US companies that mine asteroids.
AmazingGrace8
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:03pmMakes sense to me. China is buying up mineral rights all around the world and in the end, they will not be sharing with us or the rest of the world. Hush….don’t tell Pres.Obama because he will use taxpayer $ to get-in-on the action. Lets see, global warming & next one big step for mankind, Uranus.
Report Post »And that about sums it up! LOL
AmazingGrace8
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:10pmo.k. maybe Pres. Obama will go for Pluto, since he has eaten dog. Bad joke,hee-hee-hee.
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 6:56pmWhen these guys do get it up and running, I hope they take The Head Space Cadet Barry O up there and leave him…
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:03pmRumor has it that Obama took up space in college.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 6:55pmI don’t know why they bother. Obama won’t go for it. It’s either solar or wind power for Obama. He is trying his best to cripple all the other resources we have.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:50pmI guess if we can’t use what we have .. kind of shows they know Barry is a FRAUD .. I hope we don’t find out later that they used “stimulus” cash gotten from Obama.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:53pmMaybe they will find some algea.
Report Post »MtrmnMike
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 9:06pmObama will have nothing to do with, or say anything about, this venture…it’s PRIVATE capital.
Report Post »Leadthemtothelight
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 6:51pmOutstanding idea! Now that Oduma and the Senate pulled the plug on Nasa so that they could blow money at useless conferences for useless government employees. Let’s also not forget the cocaine fed mice listening to Miles Davis. Heck we haven’t even scratched the surface regarding wasteful spending. And given the fact that nobody can or will hold the government accountable at this point. Perhaps now the free market can mine some dollars from space.
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