Planetary Resources president, Chris Lewicki, said this week that the company was extraordinarily busy with the task of building prototypes at its Seattle-area manucturing cility. In contrast, Tumlinson said Deep Space Industries had not yet determined where its spacecraft would be built. Literally, we are looking for somebody who wants to make a good offer to have this kind of budding industry there, he said.
Gump said commercial in-space processing could begin as early as 2020, The law online cilitated by Harvestor spacecraft capable of bringing hundreds of tons of material back to Earth orbit. An industrial type of 3-D printer could turn the ground-up metal from an iron-nickel asteroid into tools and spacecraft components. More precious metals such as gold or platinum could be shipped down to Earth.
Concept art shows a version of Deep Space Industries Harvestor extracting materials from an asteroid.
The journey of a million miles begins with a business plan that closes in the next few years, said Gump, who previously has been involved in space ventures such as LunaCorp (which proposed sending rovers to the moon), Transformational Space Corp. (which was an early competitor in NASAs space commercialization effort) and Astrobotic (which is one of the teams competing for the Google Lunar X Prize).
We have some investors on board, the companys CEO, David Gump, told journalists during Tuesdays briefing at Californias Santa Monica Museum of Flying, and one reason for having this press conference is to become findable by additional investors.
One potential customer is NASA, which might be interested in purchasing the data gathered by Deep Spaces asteroid-hunting probes. NASA struck just such a data-purchase plan with some of the teams competing for the Google Lunar X Prize, which is aimed at encouraging the development of private-sector moon rovers.
John Mankins, Deep Spaces chief technical officer, said the spacecraft concepts relied on existing technology. You dont see any magic, he said. You dont see any space elevators, you dont see any [artificial] gravity, Insurance knowledge you dont see any warp drive.
Deep Space Industries backers say that their newly revealed plan to seek out and dig into near-Earth asteroids has already attracted interest and investors but they also admit theyre looking for much more.
Another potentially profitable line of business would be to turn water and other material from asteroids into fuel for filling up the propellant tanks of existing communication satellites, thus extending their lives. Gump said Deep Space was discussing the concept with a major satellite operator that was intrigued by the idea.
More about asteroid ventures:
The event gave Gump and his partners a chance to lay out their vision for new in-space industries, ranging from asteroid reconnaissance to solar-power satellites and space settlement. However, they provided few details about their financial backers or their customers.
Artwork shows two FireFly spacecraft studying a near-Earth asteroid. Deep Space Industries cautioned that the artwork does not necessarily reflect the actual spacecraft design.
Update for 2:10 p.m. ET Jan. 23: Planetary Resources emailed this comment from Lewicki, welcoming the newest member of the asteroid-hunting club: Deep Space Industries also sees the importance of accessing and utilizing the resources of space. Asteroid mining will open a trillion-dollar industry and provide a near-infinite supply of space-based resources to support our growth both on this planet and off.
Quantum fluctuations in science, space and society, from quarks to Hubble and Mars. Served up by Alan Boyle, NBC News Digital science editor. E-mail Alan, or connect via Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
Will Deep Spaces business plan take off? That was the big question hanging in the air after Tuesdays briefing. Planetary Resources, another commercial venture that was unveiled less than a year ago, has a business plan thats comparable to that proposed by Deep Space Industries. It also has an impressive list of billionaire investors, including Googles Eric Schmidt and Larry Page. If Planetary Resources holds to its previously announced schedule, its first prototype space telescope could be launched as early as next year.
Deep Spaces development plan calls for launching three of its Cubesat-based reconnaissance satellites, known as FireFlies, as piggyback payloads on a yet-to-be-determined launch vehicle in 2015. Those 25-kilogram (55-pound) spacecraft would go on six-month,Online Education. one-way missions to scout out near-Earth asteroids. In 2016, a 32-kilogram (70-pound) DragonFly probe would take on the first three- to four-year mission to bring up to 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of asteroid samples back to Earth.
Follow @CosmicLogIn addition to the selling the data and the more substantial products generated by asteroid missions, Deep Space could bring in money through corporate sponsorships and branding, as well as extras such as VIP access to a launch site or mission control center, Gump said.
Alan Boyles first book tells the story of Plutos ups and downs as well as the discoveries of other dwarf planets in our own solar system and even more alien worlds beyond. Buy The Case for Pluto ...
There are 2 to 3 million near-Earth asteroids, Gump said. Theres room for everyone to prosper, I think.
Gump said he and other executives met with space agency officials to discuss Deep Spaces plans to launch fleets of low-cost asteroid probes as early as 2015. We found a great hunger for the idea that we can get space missions done for a much lower cost, he said. Such data could help the space agency fine-tune its plans to send astronauts to an asteroid in the mid-2020s.
An artists conception shows a version of Deep Space Industries DragonFly spacecraft grabbing a rock sample from an asteroid for return to Earth.
Gump said the price tag for the first three-probe mission to a near-Earth asteroid would be $20 million. If Deep Space finds a customer willing to pay that price, that would bring in a good profit, said the companys board chairman, veteran space activist Rick Tumlinson.
Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC NewsScience editor at msnbc.com, author of The Case for Pluto, winner of the National Academies Communication Award for Cosmic Log in 2008. Alan Boyle covers the physical sciences, anthropology, technological innovation and space science and exploration for msnbc.com. Check out Cosmic Logs archives by following the links below, and see Boyles full biography at
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.coms science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by liking the logs Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.coms other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out The Case for Pluto, my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Both companies are betting that the resources from asteroids will be valuable enough to go after in the next decade. Its entirely possible that both companies will lose that bet, particularly if space travel doesnt take off the way they expect. But if the bets pay off, both companies could be winners.
