The company, known as Deep Space Industries is actually based in California and said that its inaugural mission would have a target date of 2015. The company already owns various intellectual property rights and patent registrations in this regard. They would then go about sending a tiny hitchhiker spacecraft termed “Firefly” on a 6 month exploration expedition. The reason for this would be to conduct a survey of an un-chosen and unidentified asteroid.
The 25kg satellite, which is about the same size as a conventional laptop would be, will then be launched as a secondary payload together with a commercial rocket. The rocket will also be carrying a communications satellite or another type of robotic probe. Asteroids, about a thousand of them that is located close to earth, are discovered every year. Many of these asteroids are believed to contain gases and water, including methane, which can easily be converted into fuel. Metals can also be created from this, such as nickel, which can then be in turn used in three dimensional printers that can manufacture components, this according to Deep Space Industries chief executive officer David Gump.
Gump is also the cofounder of 3 previous technology and space start-ups, which included the Astrobotic Technology which focuses on the development and exploration of lunar resources. John Mankins, former Nasa Jet Propulsion Lab manager said that there isn’t really anything in Deep Space Industry’s business plan that the company would be pursuing that technology research hasn’t already been able to accomplish in labs around the planet. He went on to say that technology might have been used in space for many of the same reasons that we propose, yet the fundamental technologies really do feature.
These are only some of the many other planned expeditions that will be taking place in the forthcoming years. Technology will open up space to us even more and make the universe become even smaller, as earth has become, with many companies cashing in on their patent registrations.