Asteroid Mining and Deep Space Industries
On January 22, 2013, in a formal announcement at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying in California, Deep Space Industries stated its intention to build “the world’s first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft.” Naming its first class of spacecraft FireFly in tribute to the Josh Whedon space-western drama TV series, a move certain to endear itself to space-geeks worldwide, myself included, Deep Space Industries said these craft will utilize low-cost CubeSat components and get discounted delivery to space by ride-sharing on the launch of larger communications satellites.
With this announcement, Deep Space Industries became the second company in less than a year to join what is being called the new ‘asteroid gold rush’ to harvest rich fields of water and precious metals available in near-Earth asteroids. Planetary Resources made a similar announcement in April 2012 stating the company intends to launch a demonstration mission to Earth orbit within two years. Likewise, Deep Space Industries says the first FireFly craft will be launched in 2015 on missions of two to six months.
Dragonfly Concept in Space
In a press release, Deep Space Chairman Rick Tumlinson said, “Using low cost technologies, and combining the legacy of our space program with the innovation of today’s young high tech geniuses, we will do things that would have been impossible just a few years ago.” Tumlinson is considered by Space News to be one of the 100 most influential people in the space field. According to Deep Space Industries’ website, Tumlinson has testified on space policy issues twice for the US Senate, four times in the US House of Representatives and assisted NASA in the creation of its plan to return to the Moon and the formation of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group. Tumlinson is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
Deep Space Industries Harvester Concept
Deep Space Industries plans, starting in 2016, to begin launching the 70-pound DragonFly spacecraft for round-trip harvesting expeditions which, depending on the target, will take two to four years. It has been thought for some decades that asteroids have resources useful for space exploration and through harvesting these resources exploration becomes less expensive. For example, fuel for space missions could be made in space from the volatiles in asteroids.
According to Deep Space CEO , David Gump, “Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development. More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every year. They can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit car industry last century — a key resource located near where it was needed. In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the in-space industries of this century. That is our strategy.” According to Deep Space Industries’ website Gump is co-founder of 3 companies in commercial space, including Astrobotic Technology which in its first 4 years has gathered $12 million in NASA technology development contracts and put a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle under contract for its first mission.
Deep Space Industries Fuel Harvester Concept
Exciting–without question. Ambitious–no doubt. Fruition–?
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All Concept Images – Deep Space Industries
Full article: Deep Space Industries joins the asteroid gold rush. –Deborah Byrd, EarthSky
This is amazing. I wonder what sort of weight they could carry. It’s hard for me to imagine how this could be economic. Still you read and learn. Thanks for another insight
January 24, 2013 at 10:48 am
Thanks for reading, and I agree…amazing!
January 24, 2013 at 11:34 am
EXCITING!!!!
January 24, 2013 at 10:49 am
Absolutely exciting Jason!!
January 24, 2013 at 11:35 am
Oh, wow this is so “Alien.” I can see the headlines: The Space Harvester “Guinea Pig” arrived back on earth today with three sick crewmen, who all report symptoms of a tummy ache.
January 24, 2013 at 11:32 am
LOL! ‘Alien’ but much closer to home. (And thanks for now making me want to watch Alien again…)
January 24, 2013 at 11:36 am
Yeaaaahh… I’ll believe it when I see it.
January 24, 2013 at 11:50 am
My thoughts are that space mining will take place. Whether on schedule ….remains to be seen. Either way the concepts are very interesting.
January 24, 2013 at 12:14 pm
I can see it in another hundred years or so. But by 2015? Not.
January 24, 2013 at 12:26 pm
Very exciting, and the first I have heard of this. Yet, my mind keeping going back to Star Trek (but I’m not a Trekkie) on how it was and is, ahead of society …. or to say another way, where society is going.
January 24, 2013 at 12:23 pm
I find it a very exciting concept Frank, and one which is apparently being taken very seriously. I’m looking forward to learning more about it.
January 24, 2013 at 1:10 pm
And I’m confident you will keep us informed!
January 24, 2013 at 7:50 pm
As best I can
January 25, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Love the idea, not so sure about the timeline, but hey, stranger things have happened. Thanks for the info.
January 24, 2013 at 6:30 pm
Stranger things happen daily. (And usually before my first cup of coffee in the morning!
)
January 25, 2013 at 1:53 pm
Wow, that’s pretty cool.. and since it’s privately funded, it might actually have a chance LOL
January 24, 2013 at 9:51 pm
LOL!! One day Richard, you and I are going to have to have a long talk about your ‘NASA hate’. You best come well armed….
Actually, I tend to agree with you here…. but only somewhat!
January 25, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Pffft. I don’t hate NASA… I just yawn and roll my eyes whenever I hear anything about some grand plan to go to the Moon and/or Mars by 20XX (replace the XX with whatever year they’ve pulled out of their arse this time)
I’ve been hearing the same bollocks since the Reagan era.
Private industry will (eventually) get there. NASA will have it’s budget cut and the whole thing will plop and sink into the ocean like Gus Grissom’s Mercury capsule.
January 25, 2013 at 11:21 pm
Nope, I was obviously wrong. Not a trace of hate there.
January 26, 2013 at 8:06 am
Politicians, Alex, I hate politicians. NASA is fine… it’s the arseholes who stop the funding while supporting the right to gun down whoever/whatever you like with a semi-automatic assault rifle that piss me off LOL
January 26, 2013 at 12:38 pm
I’m far more inclined to think a private agency will pull this off than a government one. Perhaps 2015 is a push (but it wouldn’t astound me), but I have no doubt it’ll happen long before 100 years. (Just consider what we’ve done in the last 100.)
Unmanned, though… no hard-bitten miners eking out a precarious living in the hostile environment of space (not to mention having to fight off the occasional space pirates, arrrrrr).
Do love the Firefly reference!! +1
January 25, 2013 at 12:40 am
What? No Reavers?!
The private industries’ increased interest in space travel and exploration is very exciting. They’ve always been a part, but it now seems, with entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and the like, they are much more interested in playing more than a supporting role. That they expect to see a return on their investments is good. As both you and Richard point out, it makes concepts such as this much more likely to be realized.
We’ve taken enormous steps in the past 100 years. I can’t imagine what someone from 1913 would think about today’s technology any more than I can imagine what I would think were I to somehow get a glimpse of 2113.
January 25, 2013 at 2:20 pm
I’m pretty sure Dr. Who protects Earth from Reavers.
While I do very strongly believe in government exploration and research, the world we live in really kicks into gear when there’s a buck to be made. The downside is how that same ethic often results in cut corners and overly aggressive schedules (Boeing’s new aircraft springs to mind).
We do live in times where things are changing at a breakneck pace unlike any in history. In fact, at some point, the bill is gonna come due for all this growth, and it will hurt. A lot.
January 25, 2013 at 4:01 pm
What excites me is the cooperation between governmental space agencies and the private sector. I’ve no problem with someone making a buck, at all. You’re right about overly aggressive schedules and cut corners, but on the other hand great risk often leads to great reward. Exploration has always required risk. I’m thinking governmental agencies can’t afford to take the chances the private industries sometimes take as they have a public to answer to and funding to be concerned with, however with private industries, who are playing with their own money, they also have a bottom line to answer to.
We could refuse to move forward out fear of the unknown and with the knowledge that once we do so there’s no turning back, however, if humans had this type of mindset we’d most likely still be wondering if we should, or should not, bang the rocks together.
January 26, 2013 at 8:31 am
Very good point about the risk/reward equation! The need for profit is why I support government exploration. I think the give point of public funding is easier than the give point of shareholder funding of R&D. It gets complicated, because if a corporation gets the bit in its teeth, sees real profit down the road, it probably has greater leverage and flexibility (and perhaps less overhead) than any government organization.
I do sometimes think no one ever should have left the oceans, but we did, so we may as well keep going.
January 26, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Wow – making fuel from the volatiles in asteroids for missions! That seems like an amazing thing to be able to achieve. (and I couldn’t help but laugh at Smakingtons comment…I LOVE the movie Alien) Great and exciting post!
January 25, 2013 at 9:20 am
I agree Chica. Time will tell how exactly this plays out, but I definitely see this happening.
January 26, 2013 at 8:11 am
You are definitely on the front lines with this one ALex. First I’ve heard of this. Great post. Worth watching this project.
January 25, 2013 at 9:41 am
I’m glad you enjoyed it Mobius, I’ll also be watching to see how it develops.
January 26, 2013 at 8:11 am
This is crazy amazing! I can’t imagine them bringing back water…..do you suppose we pick up some alien enzymes in the water??
January 25, 2013 at 1:43 pm
January 26, 2013 at 8:50 am
Oh I’M ALARMED!! TRUST ME! I’M ALARMED!!
January 26, 2013 at 10:03 am
LOL!!! I was just saying…
January 26, 2013 at 10:07 am
So these are fully automated?
If I had known of stuff like this when I was a kid, I’d have payed a lot more attention in school.
January 25, 2013 at 2:46 pm
From what I’ve read, yes Guapo. Though I’ve read only a bit so far….and I do so like the thought of space miners! I agree with you about school, and it’s the primary reason I’ve gone back to school.
January 26, 2013 at 8:55 am
This is very exciting, and, given there are at least two companies developing craft, it raises interesting questions about ownership. How do you lay claim to an asteroid?
January 25, 2013 at 3:34 pm
That IS an interesting question Richard, and one I’ve thought about more than once while laying awake at night…which really does say WAY too much about me.
January 26, 2013 at 8:56 am
Photon torpedoes! “It’s mind! Back off! Now!!”
January 25, 2013 at 4:04 pm
LOL!! They’ll need lots and lots of guys named Mal.
January 26, 2013 at 9:33 am
Yeah, that’s a favorite of mine! (Isn’t it everyone’s?)
That’s carrying a big stick, oh my, yes!
January 26, 2013 at 2:24 pm
If it’s not, it definitely should be!
January 27, 2013 at 8:19 am
I do find this far-fetched partly because of the “manned” mission drilling through ice in the inhospitable Antarctic (to try and reach the lake beneath) had to be called off due to issues with the drill. At least it wasn’t too far to come home for them!
January 27, 2013 at 2:07 pm
But again here we’re talking about robotic missions. I do see your point though, very clearly. I’ve heard space exploration compared to terrestrial exploration such as in the Antarctic or even compared to the explorers who first crossed the oceans, and really…we just can’t compare, it’s not at all the same. The resumption of manned missions beyond low earth orbit, whether back to the Moon, to asteroids, or to Mars, will come with risks, huge risks. I can’t rightfully imagine it taking place without a single mishap along the way, and you are absolutely correct that an accident in space pretty much means loss of life. Apollo 13 managed to return, but had that crew been 3 months into a mission to Mars I doubt they would have. I do think the rewards are worth the risks though, we learn from mistakes. The real mistake is to stop trying.
January 30, 2013 at 3:47 pm