Company to unveil fleet of asteroid-mining ships for deep-space colonies

FoxNews.com/Space.com ^ | 1/22/2013 | Mike Wall

[RoosterRedux]

A new asteroid-mining company launches Tuesday with the goal of helping humanity expand across the solar system by tapping the vast riches of space rocks.

The new firm, called Deep Space Industries, Inc., announced Tuesday, Jan. 22, that it plans to launch a fleet of prospecting spacecraft in 2015, then begin harvesting metals and water from near-Earth asteroids within a decade or so. Such work could make it possible to build and refuel spacecraft far above our planet's surface, thus helping our species get a foothold in the final frontier.

"Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development," Deep Space CEO David Gump said in a statement. Deep Space Industries will hold a press conference today in Santa Monica, Calif., at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST/1800 GMT) to unveil more details of its bold mission plan; you can watch the webcast live at SPACE.com.

"More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every year," Gump explained. "They can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit car industry last century — a key resource located near where it was needed. In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the in-space industries of this century. That is our strategy." [How Asteroid Mining Could Work (Infographic)]

[zeugma]

Better have some REALLY BIG batteries. Maybe they should consult with Boeing.

If you put them in space where they won't enter earth's shadow, batteries would not be necessary. The smelters themselves could be merely big mirrors focusing sunlight to the desired point.

[zeugma]

Somebody needs to be offering legitimate and affordable mineral claims to help fund this sort of thing. Obviously the primary financier of the mission would get the biggest share. Its a shot in the dark but lots of people play the lottery.

Yup.

Here's the Big Problem™: there is already a treaty covering space and everything in it, signed by the globalists and socialists in your government that considers all the mineral wealth in space to be the property of "all mankind". So in order to "legally" do anything like mine an asteroid, you'll have to pay off the criminals that run the U.N. I can't remember the treaty name, but it is written very similar to LOST. There are folks out there with very long time horizons who have been planning for just this type of thing, and they are going to want their cut.

[cripplecreek]

We signed the outer space treaty which doesn’t say much about private ownership in space but the moon treaty does. However we didn’t sign the moon treaty but our lack of opposition has in a sense made it defacto international law.

It does need to be overcome but it appears that many of the people working toward private space endevors are more optimistic than they have been in the past.

[csmusaret]

I’m thinking big machines; like excavators and haulers.

[struggle]

LIVE FEED COMING UP AT 1PM EST
http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

[jmcenanly]

I can see where they would have to be in good odor with the government. Look at how nervous we were when North Korea launched a defunct satellite.
Currently, NASA has been talking about a mission to bring a boxcar sized near Earth asteroid to Lunar orbit. If I were the NASA administrator, I would offer 50% of the projected cost of that mission to whichever of the two nascent asteroid mining companies could bring back such an asteroid. This is how we got Spaceship One, whose descendant, SpaceShip Two, is scheduled to begin carrying paying passengers on suborbital trips later this year.

[RoosterRedux]

there is already a treaty covering space and everything in it...

Like that is going to hold up in court.

If I remember correctly, I laid claim to everything in outer space and beyond back in 1955.;-)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks RoosterRedux.