Asteroid-prospecting spacecraft plan to be announced

January 21, 2013

On Tuesday at 10 AM PT, Deep Space Industries Inc. will announce plans to create “the world’s first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft,” according to an email press release.

The announcement will be broadcast live at http://www.spacevidcast.com. A video of the announcement will be available  at www.deepspaceindustries.com.

“Deep Space is pursuing an aggressive schedule and plans on prospecting, harvesting and processing asteroids for use in space and to benefit Earth,” the company says.

UPDATE Jan. 21, 8:36 AM ETPlanetary Resources just sent an email announcing that they have designed and built the Arkyd-100 space telescope, as part of their plan to “create the first commercial spacecraft family capable of venturing beyond Earth orbit and into deep-space.”

Last April, announced its plan to mine near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for raw materials, ranging from water to precious metals. “Resource extraction from asteroids will deliver multiple benefits to humanity and grow to be valued at tens of billions of dollars annually.”

UPDATE Jan. 21 8:37 PM — Added broadcast and video links from a new company email.