18th January 2013

Deep Space Industries – asteroid mining company

The second asteroid mining company in less than a year will soon be announced.

Last year, Planetary Resources was announced as the world's first commercial asteroid mining company. Co-founded by Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson, its stated goal was "to expand Earth's natural resource base" by developing a series of telescopes, probes and robotic vehicles. With a single asteroid containing more precious metals than ever mined in history, this endeavour could potentially "add trillions of dollars to the global GDP" and "enable humanity's prosperity to continue for centuries to come."

Planetary Resources – with a team of high-profile backers – generated overwhelming interest from the public. Since that press conference, the firm has signed an agreement with Virgin Galactic enabling multiple launches for its spacecraft.

It now appears that a second company has entered the race. Although its website is rather sparse, we understand that Deep Space Industries will be announcing their plans on 22nd January. From the little information gleaned elsewhere, former Astrobotic Technology President David Gump is said to be involved. The firm is developing "a breakthrough process for manufacturing in space" and intends to pursue "an aggressive schedule."

Deep Space Industries will showcase their plans at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying, California. The Science Channel's Geoff Notkin will host the event, which will include a video showing the new spacecraft and the company's other plans. When more information becomes available, we will of course post it here.

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