Antares Explosion Won't Alter Long Road To Asteroid Mining

[Buster's Uncle]

Antares Explosion Won't Alter Long Road To Asteroid Mining
Forbes
Eric Mack Contributor  10/29/2014 @ 1:04PM



When an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket exploded just seconds after liftoff on Tuesday, it destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment and experiments destined for the International Space Station and eventually — in the case of Planetary Resources’ Arkyd 3 (A3) test satellite — orbit.

The A3 was one of the earliest steps in a long roadmap for Planetary Resources that includes creating cost-effective equipment for space observation and exploration before launching a laser communications system into space to keep in contact with the eventual asteroid prospecting missions that are the ultimate goal.

The A3 was a small CubeSat that would demonstrate many of the technologies that will power Planetary Resources’ mission on a small scale. But the company is pledging that its destruction in the Antares explosion won’t affect its road map in the long term, or much in the short term for that matter.

“With the A3, the Planetary Resources’ team achieved most of our objectives when we delivered the spacecraft to the launch integration site; and for the past few months, we have been hard at work on our next vehicle, the Arkyd 6 (A6),” the company said in an e-mailed statement. “Our development schedule has not been affected, the A6 is Planetary Resources’ second demonstration vehicle in our spacecraft program.”



(Credit: Planetary Resources)


The company says that it has contracted to include the A6 in an upcoming U.S. commercial launch, currently schedule for the second half of 2015.

The effort has backing from big names including Google's  Larry Page and director James Cameron, so it seems unlikely to be set back for long if at all by this week’s loss.

The ultimate vision is for larger Arkyd spacecraft to help jumpstart a trillion-dollar market mining oxygen, hydrogen and precious metals from asteroids.


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