Will asteroid wranglers be the next space cowboys? Probably.
Will it be easy? Absolutely not. Traveling and working in space has never been for the feint of heart or weak of stomach. Only the most fit make the cut.
Is travelling to space romantic? Sure. The idea of space travel always has been. So have cowboys.
And if you’re wondering whether travelling to space to deal with asteroids is necessary, just take another look at the footage of that asteroid exploding over Russia.
What remains to be seen is whether it’s lucrative.
Current events quiz: What’s the name of the first company to send a privately built commercial rocket into space? If you said “SpaceX,” that’s a giant air horn you hear, honking you off the reality show stage. Read more.
It’s no surprise that many were skeptical when James Cameron and his counterparts at Planetary Resources, Inc. announced plans to mine precious metals and other materials from near-Earth asteroids. After all, the whole concept seems like something out of a James Cameron movie. And, as if Planetary Resources weren’t mind-boggling enough, Cameron and co. have also announced that they plan to extract water from the asteroids. Read more.
April was a busy month for Hollywood director James Cameron. First he made waves with his announcement that he would be visiting the Mariana Trench, one of the deepest parts of the ocean floor. Then, just for good measure, he revealed that he is taking part in a new venture known as Planetary Resources that intends to mine asteroids. Yes, that’s right, asteroids.
While the idea of mining asteroids might have seemed wildly outlandish just a few years ago, thus far the skeptics have remained relatively quiet. Even NASA has come out in support of the venture. Of course, it helps that Planetary Resources has assembled an extremely impressive leadership team. Read more.
It’s getting busier in outer space, and a United Nations panel is now calling for stronger regulations on how humans conduct themselves beyond Earth’s boundaries. In particular, the Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space wants to keep an eye on the increased activity of private sector space enterprise.
The call for increased regulation was sent out barely a month before a group of high-profile entrepreneurs — operating under Planetary Resources Inc. – announced their intention to mine asteroids for minerals and other resources. By some estimates, this venture could make the company trillions of dollars.
Planetary Resources’ April 24 announcement was followed, within hours, by the musings of bloggers on the legalities of how such exploration could be done and the issue of celestial ownership. It’s just one type of scenario that the U.N. subcommittee appeared to be trying anticipate after almost two weeks of meetings in late March.
Earlier this month we blogged about the recent success of space commercialization and the planned mission to dock the first private space craft, the SpaceX Dragon capsule, with the International Space Station (ISS). If that news wasn’t big enough, the newsrooms and blogs roared back to life following an announcement that film director James Cameron and top executives at Google are planning a venture – Planetary Resources, Inc. – to begin mining minerals from asteroids, as soon as 2013. Read more.