Planetary Resources will help sustain humanity’s future by accessing the vast resources of space, company officials say.
Many asteroids are in Earth-like orbits that offer accessible resources.
Planetary Resources has developed a space telescope with remote sensing capability. Data gathered from near-Earth asteroids will assist in analyzing the composition of the bodies to determine a commercial value.
Near-Earth asteroids contain a vast supply of natural resources.
Planetary Resources, Inc. plans to send robotic probes out to prospect near-Earth asteroids, gauging their potential stores of water and platinum-group metals.
Swarms of low-cost robotic spacecraft will enable extraction of resources from near-Earth asteroids.
Nearly 9,000 near-Earth asteroids are known today, and more than 1,500 of them are easier to reach than the surface of the moon, researchers say.
Small, water-rich near-Earth asteroids can be captured by spacecraft, allowing their resources to be extracted, officials with the new company Planetary Resources say.