Google bosses and Avatar director James Cameron have teamed up to form a company that aims to mine natural resources from asteroids.
The project, which will require a massive investment and huge advances in technology, was launched at The Museum of Flight in Seattle. The plan is to use commercially-built robotic ships to extract rocket fuel and valuable minerals including gold and platinum out of the rocks that routinely whiz by Earth.
One of the founders of Planetary Resources Inc has predicted they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020. The first step, to be taken in the next 18 to 24 months, will be the launch of a series of private telescopes that would search for the right type of asteroids.
Planetary Resources has vowed to combine the sectors of “space exploration and natural resources” in a venture that could add “trillions of dollars to the global GDP”.
Categories: Americas, Future, Research, Science, Science and Technology, Space Exploration, Technology