Planetary Resources

[JohnFornaro]

It does not look "flyable",   

IIRC the Arkyd 100 series are for LEO only.

I thought they were sending "swarms" of them out to the asteroid belt.

[Robotbeat]

It does not look "flyable",   

IIRC the Arkyd 100 series are for LEO only.

I thought they were sending "swarms" of them out to the asteroid belt.

Not the 100-series, though.

[neilh]

It does not look "flyable",   

IIRC the Arkyd 100 series are for LEO only.

I thought they were sending "swarms" of them out to the asteroid belt.

I believe the 300-series is the one intended to be used for asteroid "swarms."

[RocketmanUS]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/news/how-to-mine-an-asteroid-11644811

Cost per unit down to less than $10M per unit if building many of them.
Not sure if that would include launch costs.

[IRobot]

It MUST be including launch. Can't cost that much by itself.

[mlindner]

My university is hosting a Planetary Resources info session in 2 hours. They're hiring interns for co-ops for Summer/Fall 2013. Apparently (I was unaware) there are a lot of people from UofM among their full time staff and interns. Anyone have any good questions I could run by them if I get the chance?

[go4mars]

My university is hosting a Planetary Resources info session 2 hours. Anyone have any good questions I could run by them if I get the chance?

1)  Rough ideas of how they plan to refine asteroids into component parts. 
2)  What distances they believe they can do optical interferometry at.
3)  What their forecasted expenditure budget is in the next 5 years.
4)  Whether the Earth-bound platinum group metal chunks will be landed using active guidance, or passively in an appropriate target area on Earth. 
5)  Circumstances or development phase where they would consider an IPO.

[mlindner]

My university is hosting a Planetary Resources info session 2 hours. Anyone have any good questions I could run by them if I get the chance?

1)  Rough ideas of how they plan to refine asteroids into component parts. 
2)  What distances they believe they can do optical interferometry at.
3)  What their forecasted expenditure budget is in the next 5 years.
4)  Whether the Earth-bound platinum group metal chunks will be landed using active guidance, or passively in an appropriate target area on Earth. 
5)  Circumstances or development phase where they would consider an IPO.

1) I guess I'm relatively uninformed about them. Isn't it DSI thats planning on doing that?
3) Could you elaborate more on this so I can ask properly?

[JohnFornaro]

My university is hosting a Planetary Resources info session 2 hours. Anyone have any good questions I could run by them if I get the chance?

1)  Rough ideas of how they plan to refine asteroids into component parts. 
2)  What distances they believe they can do optical interferometry at.
3)  What their forecasted expenditure budget is in the next 5 years.
4)  Whether the Earth-bound platinum group metal chunks will be landed using active guidance, or passively in an appropriate target area on Earth. 
5)  Circumstances or development phase where they would consider an IPO.

That is a good batch of questions.  I hope MLindner asks them.  If he does, I hope also that he takes verbatim notes of the answers, and shares them here.

[go4mars]

1) I guess I'm relatively uninformed about them. Isn't it DSI thats planning on doing that?
3) Could you elaborate more on this so I can ask properly?

1)  The bottom part of this web page: http://www.planetaryresources.com/asteroids/usage/

3)  They have billionaire backers, but that doesn't mean they have large budgets.  If they say something like $20M this year, ramping up to $500M in 5 years, it might imply things about the stage they plan to be at then (Arkyd 100 vs. future models), and whether they expect revenue for services provided by then.  If they say $5M this year, and flat over the next 5 years, then that says something too.  I'd be surprised if they answer this question, but it doesn't hurt to ask. 

[mlindner]

My university is hosting a Planetary Resources info session 2 hours. Anyone have any good questions I could run by them if I get the chance?

1)  Rough ideas of how they plan to refine asteroids into component parts. 
2)  What distances they believe they can do optical interferometry at.
3)  What their forecasted expenditure budget is in the next 5 years.
4)  Whether the Earth-bound platinum group metal chunks will be landed using active guidance, or passively in an appropriate target area on Earth. 
5)  Circumstances or development phase where they would consider an IPO.

That is a good batch of questions.  I hope MLindner asks them.  If he does, I hope also that he takes verbatim notes of the answers, and shares them here.

I don't happen to have an audio recorder on hand. If I ask the questions in the middle of the info session I'll get them down relatively well, but if I grab them afterwards for questions I'll have to paraphrase. I'll click on the mic on my laptop to see what I can get as well, though thats going to barely audible most likely.

[JohnFornaro]

go out to Office Depot and get a recorder!

[mlindner]

go out to Office Depot and get a recorder!

Poor college students are poor. I looked for one at the book store an hour ago and they go for $40.

[Robotbeat]

go out to Office Depot and get a recorder!

Poor college students are poor. I looked for one at the book store an hour ago and they go for $40.

Do you have a smartphone?

[JohnFornaro]

go out to Office Depot and get a recorder!

Poor college students are poor. I looked for one at the book store an hour ago and they go for $40.

It's a bitch being poor, no doubt.  I remember my college days.  My price point today is a mite higher, $400, but that still hurts.  Money doesn't go far, when you need $40 - 400M.

Just tryin' to feel yer pain.  Try and find the forty bux.  If the people on the panel answer you with any meaning, it will reveal something about the reality of their plans.  Right now, it sounds like an exercise for the few at the top to burnish their resumes.

Either they are making canned videos, or are getting softball questions.  Not much for the armchair posters here to sink any analytical teeth into.

[mlindner]

So I recorded the presentation section, but there wasn't much more information than there was in the publicly available presentations. I got most of the questions and I'll upload the audio later (that is rather atrocious I might add) with transcripts of the portions I can get.

1) They said they don't know yet.
2) 10's to 1000's of kilometers.
3) They said they are not eager to spend money. Their investors are looking at return of investment in terms of decades. The highest cost in the space business is people. They currently have around a dozen people in the company, they said their ideal number of people in the company eventually is 50 people.
4) They said they plan to do what works best, no specifics yet.
5) Didn't get to ask, considering how little they know yet, that sounds a long long way off.

[JohnFornaro]

Thanks a bunch. 

Not much of value in those particular answers.

Glad you kept the forty bux.

[mlindner]

Got some more clarification.

3) The 50 people size was the presenter's personal opinion not the company's.
5) Yes they plan to go IPO eventually, no info on when.

I grabbed a business card. Name is Hannah Goldberg and she worked on MSL, and was at JPL for 10 years previous.

A couple side notes: They stated that they plan to fly early and fail early with their simpler spacecraft early on. They also stated that they don't want to get left behind in technology and will be making them to be able to be constantly upgraded with new hardware and software.

[go4mars]

Not much of value in those particular answers.

Au contraire mon frere!  This answer is choice:

2) 10's to 1000's of kilometers.

Thanks mlindner.  That's something I've been very curious about (strictly for daydreaming purposes, but still very exciting to me!) 

This means they think they can do exoplanet imaging from the equivalent of a 1000+ kilometer diameter lens.  Which is waaaay cool.  It also strongly implies an ability to control where they are in space, and know where they are in space (and time), to a degree that implies optical communication systems at large distances.  Once they crack those nuts, they will need a lot more than 12-50 employees.  I like their interesting development philosophy as well. 

The biggest question at this point (imo) is the reference to decade perched investment.  If that is realistic and in reference to their scope systems, then it makes me wonder if rather than the capability for optical interferometry in the near term, they are just getting set up for when it comes, based solely on faith in Moore's law.  If they already think they can realistically achieve 10's to thousands of kilometers, then the "decade" reference must be with respect to actual asteroid assaying and recovery work.  I strongly hope it's the latter! 

Cool company.  Thanks again mlindner!

[RocketmanUS]

So I recorded the presentation section, but there wasn't much more information than there was in the publicly available presentations. I got most of the questions and I'll upload the audio later (that is rather atrocious I might add) with transcripts of the portions I can get.

1) They said they don't know yet.
2) 10's to 1000's of kilometers.
3) They said they are not eager to spend money. Their investors are looking at return of investment in terms of decades. The highest cost in the space business is people. They currently have around a dozen people in the company, they said their ideal number of people in the company eventually is 50 people.
4) They said they plan to do what works best, no specifics yet.
5) Didn't get to ask, considering how little they know yet, that sounds a long long way off.

3) Is that over decades or in decades?

It looked like the would have a positive return just from their first LEO sats.