About 10 years ago, when I started my first and last personal blog, I used to define myself as "an international journalist living in Canada who aims to be the first correspondent in the Moon."
Of course, I was 90% joking, and 10% daydreaming about the last point. But James Cameron and Google’s latest venture, Planetary Resources, might allow idealists like me and bold entrepreneurs to fulfill their dreams.
Planetary Resource announced today that, within the next 18 to 24 months, it would launch between two and five space-based telescopes, costing a few million dollars each, to identify potentially valuable asteroids by using Arkyd-101 Space Telescopes.
The venture is already being compared to the debut of Personal Computers, as it is breaking the paradigm of what space is and what humans can do with it.
Before 2020, the company -based in Bellevue, Washington- plans to spend between $25 and $30 million in a small flock of spacecraft. They will be used to conduct a more detailed exploration, which will help mapping out valuable asteroids as well as identify rich resource veins.
The most intriguing phase will come after that, when the company starts utilizing robots to mine, maybe refine and then return to Earth, mineral resources found out there.
So, Mr. Larry Page, Mr. Eric Schmidt and Mr. James Cameron, if you are reading this, you know where to find me.
