Planetary Resources

[RocketmanUS]

What is the estimated price for a Arkyd Series 100 if they were to sell one ( before launch costs )?

[Danderman]

Considering the asteroids in entirety, there is ~1000x more water than there is PGM by weight and ~4000x more water than Pt.

http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/ResourcesNearEarthSpace/resources20.pdf

There really needs to be a thread devoted to asteroid mineralogy, so that  this thread could be devoted to, you know, Planetary Resources.

As a thought experiment, asteroids could be made of pure diamonds, but PR could still fail due to some bolt coming loose, an issue specific to the company. Therefore, we need this thread to focus on Planetary Resources-specific issues.

[benjaminhigginbotham]

Spacevidcast had Chris Lewicki on the show this week to answer the question of how you get asteroid materials back to Earth without killing us all.

Interesting video, and good to get a visual on Mr. Lewicki.  5:44-ish  "we'll bring back the materials a little bit at a time..."

And the commentators agree that this is the answer to this question "from a social media perspective".  These guys "so totally know" what they're doing...

You can't seriously assert that Mr. Lewicki has answered that question, can you?

That show, based on the snippet of the episode that I watched, is not all that authoritative.  I mean, they go on to state that the problem with HSF is that we don't live long enough:

See screen capture below:

If you watch the whole interview you'll note that Chris was pretty clear: They are NOT looking to bring stuff back. Instead they are looking to find water that can be an enabler for other missions. He also mentioned that they don't actually have all the answers yet.

Pestering a guest for answers they don't have serves no one and while it may make for good TV, it makes for bad or mis-guided information. For real life examples of this see FOX News. We're not trying to get the scoop on other media outlets, rather, we're trying to get the planet excited about space flight again. With that in mind, you won't really see us pester our guests.

The screenshot you posted was a question from a viewer. I like to take time out of the show to answer questions from people who watch the show. Makes it more engaging and sometimes one person may ask a question that 10 people may have.

[Danderman]

According to their web site, PR has the following address:

93 S Jackson St #50680 Seattle, Washington 98104-2818

It looks like some building with many business suites. Given the small size of the spacecraft under development, a classic big aerospace high bay is probably not going to be required for this company.

[AnalogMan]

According to their web site, PR has the following address:

93 S Jackson St #50680 Seattle, Washington 98104-2818

It looks like some building with many business suites. Given the small size of the spacecraft under development, a classic big aerospace high bay is probably not going to be required for this company.

Isn't that just one of the many "premium street addresses" available from a mail forwarding service (Earth Class Mail)?

[neilh]

According to their web site, PR has the following address:

93 S Jackson St #50680 Seattle, Washington 98104-2818

It looks like some building with many business suites. Given the small size of the spacecraft under development, a classic big aerospace high bay is probably not going to be required for this company.

Isn't that just one of the many "premium street addresses" available from a mail forwarding service (Earth Class Mail)?

sdsds posted some photos of his casual pass-by of their offices back in June: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28680.msg919678#msg919678

[AnalogMan]

According to their web site, PR has the following address:

93 S Jackson St #50680 Seattle, Washington 98104-2818

It looks like some building with many business suites. Given the small size of the spacecraft under development, a classic big aerospace high bay is probably not going to be required for this company.

Isn't that just one of the many "premium street addresses" available from a mail forwarding service (Earth Class Mail)?

sdsds posted some photos of his casual pass-by of their offices back in June: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28680.msg919678#msg919678

Yes, that's their proper office location at:
1331 118th Avenue Southeast, Suite 100, Bellevue, Washington 98005

(Office plan view from Nov 2009 attached)

[Danderman]

What is the estimated price for a Arkyd Series 100 if they were to sell one ( before launch costs )?

Do you want the base model, or do you want the one with the upgraded deluxe chrome hardware?

[RocketmanUS]

What is the estimated price for a Arkyd Series 100 if they were to sell one ( before launch costs )?

Do you want the base model, or do you want the one with the upgraded deluxe chrome hardware?

The type they plan to launch.

[Lar]

What is the estimated price for a Arkyd Series 100 if they were to sell one ( before launch costs )?

Do you want the base model, or do you want the one with the upgraded deluxe chrome hardware?

The type they plan to launch.

Not to exceed 50 MM ... (now where did I hear that number?       )

[kch]

What is the estimated price for a Arkyd Series 100 if they were to sell one ( before launch costs )?

Do you want the base model, or do you want the one with the upgraded deluxe chrome hardware?

The type they plan to launch.

Not to exceed 50 MM ... (now where did I hear that number?       )

It'll cost less than two inches? 

[Lar]

What is the estimated price for a Arkyd Series 100 if they were to sell one ( before launch costs )?

Do you want the base model, or do you want the one with the upgraded deluxe chrome hardware?

The type they plan to launch.

Not to exceed 50 MM ... (now where did I hear that number?       )

It'll cost less than two inches? 

Yes... quite a bit less than a 2 inch stack of 100,000 dollar bills (were such bills to exist)...    I thought MM was an abbreviation for Millions but I could be wrong.

[kch]

What is the estimated price for a Arkyd Series 100 if they were to sell one ( before launch costs )?

Do you want the base model, or do you want the one with the upgraded deluxe chrome hardware?

The type they plan to launch.

Not to exceed 50 MM ... (now where did I hear that number?       )

It'll cost less than two inches? 

Yes... quite a bit less than a 2 inch stack of 100,000 dollar bills (were such bills to exist)...    I thought MM was an abbreviation for Millions but I could be wrong.

It might well be ... looked like Millimeters to me. 

[ChefPat]

$100,000 bill

[Robert Thompson]

http://www.asterank.com/3d/
http://www.asterank.com/
"Asterank is an economic and scientific catalog of over 580,000 asteroids in our solar system.
Show top asteroids sorted by [Go]"

[JohnFornaro]

http://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1043&bih=512&q=trillion+dollar+bill&oq=trillion+dollar+bill&gs_l=img.3..0j0i5l8j0i24.1641.4657.0.5016.20.20.0.0.0.0.157.2017.15j5.20.0.pchatac..0.0...1.1.gEQZs1IPIwg

I'll see your 100K and raise it...

[Lar]

Here's an update

http://www.planetaryresources.com/2013/01/asteroid-mining-update-from-the-factory-floor/

Seems like a nice little spacecraft to me. But that just proves I have zero expertise, I get wowed by nifty pictures easily.

Single piece machining, eh?

[Robotbeat]

Here's an update

http://www.planetaryresources.com/2013/01/asteroid-mining-update-from-the-factory-floor/

Seems like a nice little spacecraft to me. But that just proves I have zero expertise, I get wowed by nifty pictures easily.

Single piece machining, eh?

The update said they're trying to use fewer people. And only one person is shown in the video, so it sounds like they're succeeding!

[JohnFornaro]

Well, Mr. Lewicki didn't reveal a single piece of proprietary info in that video.  Which is not surprising.  But I couldn't tell all that much about the cubesat from the video.

Certainly it's size is impressive.  I didn't notice attitude adjustment nozzles.  Will they be orienting the spacecraft with gyros only?  What could possibly be the power supply for those flywheels?  The solar array?

The laser com thing was interesting too.  Lewicki mentioned that the "relatively large" optic would also double as a laser com transmitter/receiver, at least the way I heard him.  Which would mean that if you're looking at an asteroid out there, then you have to turn around 180 degrees to communicate with Earth.  That would have to eat up power.

So, I suppose they'd be on the other side of the asteroid, looking back at Earth?

It does not look "flyable", that is, the sat doesn't look like it could change its trajectory all that much.  I suppose that the sat jettisons its asteroid insertion stage, once it is synched with an asteroid?  Or does it go out there and spin around, looking for asteroids?  And just sees those asteroids that generally follow its trajectory?

At the end of the video, the viewer hasn't learned anything useful about the Arkyd.  Possibly all of the answers to those questions are proprietary. 

[ChefPat]

It does not look "flyable",   

IIRC the Arkyd 100 series are for LEO only.