Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

Planetary Resources and Luxembourg plan to launch an asteroid mining mission by 2020

By

planetary resources asteroid mining
Image used with permission by copyright holder
What’s the 21st-century equivalent of the Gold Rush? Why, the Asteroid Rush, of course. On Thursday, asteroid mining company Planetary Resources, Inc. announced the finalization of a 25 million euro financing agreement, which will aid in the ultimate goal of “launching the first commercial asteroid prospecting mission by 2020.” That’s right, friends. We’re going mining in space.

Involved in the deal are the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the banking institution Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI), who have contributed 12 million euros and grants of 13 million euros, respectively. “We are excited in welcoming the Grand Duchy as a partner and an investor. Just as the country’s vision and initiative propelled the satellite communications industry through its public-private partnerships, this funding and support will fast-track our business — advancing and building upon our substantial accomplishments,” said Chris Lewicki, president and CEO of Planetary Resources, Inc. “We plan to launch the first commercial asteroid prospecting mission by 2020 and look forward to collaborating with our European partner in this pivotal new industry.”

For its part, Luxembourg seems thrilled to be partaking in such a modern enterprise, with Étienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, noting, “The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg becoming a shareholder in Planetary Resources seals our partnership and lays the ground of the principles of our cooperation in the years to come, while demonstrating the Government’s strong commitment to support the national space sector by attracting innovative activities in space resource utilization and other related areas.” He added, “The Grand Duchy has a renowned history in public-private partnerships. In 1985, Luxembourg became one of the founding shareholders of SES, a landmark for satellite telecommunications and now a world leader in this sector.”

Related

Already, some of the key hardware and software from the Planetary Resources team has been tested in outer space, but their next missions hope to use sensors that “will acquire key data related to the presence of water and water-bearing minerals on asteroids.” This, the company hopes, will aid in fast-tracking the “off-planet economic activities.”

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Lulu Chang
Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Clever new asteroid-mining method uses mineral-munching microbes, not machinery
planetary resources asteroid mining

There are plenty of things that need to come together to allow humans to establish a more permanent presence in space -- and a recent experiment carried out on the International Space Station (ISS) represents an important milestone. Charles Cockell, professor of astrobiology at the U.K.’s University of Edinburgh, and colleagues have successfully demonstrated the first extraction of an economically important group of elements -- the rare earth elements used in everything from mobile phones to magnets -- in space. This could lay the groundwork, Cockell told Digital Trends, for “biomining” on asteroids for a wide range of purposes.

“It's really a proof of concept, but it shows that biomining is just one way in which we could use microorganisms to help us establish a permanent human presence in space, in addition to other bioindustrial processes like making food and oxygen,” Cockell said.

Read more
Chinese space-mining company plans to launch first test spacecraft this year
planetary resources asteroid mining

What do you do when you run out of assets to strip on Earth? Simple: You go into space and start mining there as well. That’s the goal of China-based space startup, Origin Space. To get to that point, however, it’s necessary to carry out some tests in space. With this goal in mind, Origin Space will launch its inaugural “space mining robot,” a small satellite spacecraft called NEO-1, as soon as November this year. The spacecraft will not carry out any mining, but will rather test out various technologies that could be used at a later date.

“The goal is to verify and demonstrate multiple functions such as spacecraft orbital maneuver, simulated small celestial body capture, [and] intelligent spacecraft identification and control,” Yu Tianhong, an Origin Space co-founder, told IEEE Spectrum.

Read more
ESA moves forward with its first ‘planetary defense’ mission
esa moves forward with its first planetary defense mission hera

The European Space Agency (ESA) officially announced its first planetary defense mission to deflect asteroids from Earth. 

The $153.3 million project, called Hera, was initiated under an official contract on Tuesday, September 15, and is expected to be ready to launch by October 2024 and reach its destination by the end of 2026. Hera will travel to a near-North binary asteroid system called 65803 Didymos (or the Didymos pair), to perform six months of close-up studies. 

Read more