Planetary Resources

[DigitalMan]

It's unfortunate that despite PR having billionaire backers

Who? When they launched they had billionaire advisers, not backers. There was some angels involved. Now they have government funding from Luxembourg. Here's the cap table.

I could be mistaken but here is what they list:

Founding Investors:
RENA SHULSKY DAVID
LARRY PAGE  (you could probably stop here he can fund it himself)
RAM SHRIRAM
ERIC E. SCHMIDT, PH.D.
SIR RICHARD BRANSON
ROSS PEROT, JR.
CHARLES SIMONYI, PH.D.

Oh, you fell for that eh? Perot was the angel in 2013. None of the others invested in PR. They lent their name as "advisors".

That's sad.

[QuantumG]

Oh, you fell for that eh? Perot was the angel in 2013. None of the others invested in PR. They lent their name as "advisors".

That's sad.

Yep... I don't think I've published this before, but it's been 5 years and PR seems to be doing fine, so why not.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Financially strapped Planetary Resources gets set to auction off equipment at HQ

BY ALAN BOYLE on August 7, 2018 at 4:53 pm

In a fresh sign of the financial straits facing Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining company will be auctioning off hundreds of items from its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., ranging from industrial-strength CNC machine tools and 3-D printers to laptops and folding chairs.

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/planetary-resources-auction/

[QuantumG]

Pretty sad when Alan Boyle repeats the "initial backing from billionaires" lie in an article about them being broke. I mean, dude, what would it take for you to do some fact checking? This is low effort journalism.

[Beittil]

Such a shame, there was so much potential

I think DSI was smarter about it though, by actually developing technology they could use for revenue on the short term and support the long term.

[meekGee]

Pretty sad when Alan Boyle repeats the "initial backing from billionaires" lie in an article about them being broke. I mean, dude, what would it take for you to do some fact checking? This is low effort journalism.

Did they publish where investment came from?

[docmordrid]

Two of the founders were Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson (Space Angels), and neither are within a light year of food stamps.

[ChrisWilson68]

Such a shame, there was so much potential

I don't think so.

Someday asteroid mining will make sense.  But not for a while, and there's no advantage to starting now instead of waiting for the right time to start.

The financial market was right not to fund them.

[edzieba]

and there's no advantage to starting now instead of waiting for the right time to start.

It may be years before actually sending a vehicle to an asteroid, but there's plenty of work that needs to happen before then that can be done before then. Asteroid ephemeris and composition surveys, high-resolution imaging of targets, site selection, etc. And all the R&D needed to design relocation and/or extraction systems (based on conditions observed at the target asteroids).

Shale gas extraction may not have been economically viable for many decades after discovery, but that didn't stop prospecting for prospective sites, or R&D to figure out how to extract it. And once it did become viable, everyone who had done their homework had a head start. Of course, that work was funded by existing extraction operations, so PlanRes was likely hoping those operators would be willing to find them too, which clearly has not turned out to be the case.

[TrevorMonty]

and there's no advantage to starting now instead of waiting for the right time to start.

It may be years before actually sending a vehicle to an asteroid, but there's plenty of work that needs to happen before then that can be done before then. Asteroid ephemeris and composition surveys, high-resolution imaging of targets, site selection, etc. And all the R&D needed to design relocation and/or extraction systems (based on conditions observed at the target asteroids).

Shale gas extraction may not have been economically viable for many decades after discovery, but that didn't stop prospecting for prospective sites, or R&D to figure out how to extract it. And once it did become viable, everyone who had done their homework had a head start. Of course, that work was funded by existing extraction operations, so PlanRes was likely hoping those operators would be willing to find them too, which clearly has not turned out to be the case.

Shale gas extraction may not have been economically viable for many decades after discovery, but that didn't stop prospecting for prospective sites, or R&D to figure out how to extract it. And once it did become viable, everyone who had done their homework had a head start. Of course, that work was funded by existing extraction operations, so PlanRes was likely hoping those operators would be willing to find them too, which clearly has not turned out to be the case.

As Ed pointed out it will need deep pockets or cashflow from profitable business to fund technology development and  exploration missions required for asteroid mining. It could take 10-15yrs before any asteroid mine is operational and returning a profit.

Lunar water extraction for fuel is likely to happen first especially now NASA is focusing on this. With lunar mining a complete mining operation could be launch and assembled on lunar surface over few months. Once operational could be generating flow with months if not weeks. being returning profit. Spares for any equipment failuress is only days away.

In case of asteroid mine it typically takes years after mining operation is launched before any thing is returned to cis lunar space for sale. Spares for any equipment failures is months if not years away.

I see future for both lunar and asteroid mining with market and cashflow generated by succussful lunar mining helping to drive asteroid mining.

[ChrisWilson68]

and there's no advantage to starting now instead of waiting for the right time to start.

It may be years before actually sending a vehicle to an asteroid, but there's plenty of work that needs to happen before then that can be done before then.

Yes, there is work that needs to happen before then.  And yes, it can be done now.

But I don't think it's a good use of resources to do it now.  It should be done closer to when it's needed.

You could have started building airfields in 1880.  They would eventually be needed, and they could have been built then.  But it wouldn't have been a good idea.

Shale gas extraction may not have been economically viable for many decades after discovery, but that didn't stop prospecting for prospective sites, or R&D to figure out how to extract it. And once it did become viable, everyone who had done their homework had a head start.

I don't know the details of the shale gas industry.

But I do know that in many industries pioneers failed because they were too early.  It didn't give them an advantage to go early.  The advantage went to the companies that started at the right time, not the companies that started too early.

[ChrisWilson68]

It could take 10-15yrs before any asteroid mine is operational and returning a profit.

That's where we disagree.  I think 10-15 years is implausibly optimistic for asteroid mining to return a profit.  We're nowhere close to that now.  Things will have to drastically change before we reach that point, in my opinion.  We would have to already have built out a huge in-space infrastructure before mining is economically viable.

And by that time, the situation will be so much different that any work done now to prepare will be wasted.  It will have to be re-done then, or will be so easy to do, that effort today will prove to be useless, or next to useless.

Mining is hard.  Lots of materials are mixed together and have to be separated.  Equipment wears out quickly and requires a lot of maintenance.  Various substances are consumed by it.  Small-scale mining in space won't be feasible.  It will require a large infrastructure.

[Danderman]

The key for these companies would be a mining patents regime where claims generated by prospecting could be sold.

[QuantumG]

I have friends who work in the terrestrial prospecting business. They sell data. There's no "mining patents" involved.

Planetary Resources isn't dead yet... they're trimming the fat after a Series A. That's normal.

Hopefully they'll be going out and collecting data soon, and they'll use that confidential catalogue to raise the next round. Yes, for a long while their assets will be primarily intellectual property.

[meekGee]

and there's no advantage to starting now instead of waiting for the right time to start.

It may be years before actually sending a vehicle to an asteroid, but there's plenty of work that needs to happen before then that can be done before then. Asteroid ephemeris and composition surveys, high-resolution imaging of targets, site selection, etc. And all the R&D needed to design relocation and/or extraction systems (based on conditions observed at the target asteroids).

Shale gas extraction may not have been economically viable for many decades after discovery, but that didn't stop prospecting for prospective sites, or R&D to figure out how to extract it. And once it did become viable, everyone who had done their homework had a head start. Of course, that work was funded by existing extraction operations, so PlanRes was likely hoping those operators would be willing to find them too, which clearly has not turned out to be the case.

The main work that needs to be done is developong large-scale affordable launch capabilities.

With that, there will be the ability to mine  and maybe also the ability to use mined material for a  real purpose.

All this work on survey satellites doesn't place PR in any sort of advantageous position for the future.

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ABCD: Always Be Counting Down

[Danderman]

I have friends who work in the terrestrial prospecting business. They sell data. There's no "mining patents" involved.

It’s not hard to protect data gained from terrestrial prospecting. Not so much for data gained from sending a probe out to an asteroid. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out if a search was successful or not. Or employees could quit and hook up with competitors.

[GWH]

The legal framework would need to be put in place to protect their rights for exploration performed.

http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/claim.htm

[Danderman]

The legal framework would need to be put in place to protect their rights for exploration performed.

http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/claim.htm

Due to the 1967 treaty, an asteroid mining claim would consist solely of intellectual property rights, no physical property rights.

[Archibald]

What they need is a space DC-3 or 707 to get transportation cost down. Perhaps in some years, with BFR/BFS operational, such companies will have better times or make a little more sense. Also Golden Spike (what happened to them, by the way ?)

I closely followed the "2012 space startup" craze, and was always dubious it could even turn a R.O.I using existing ELVs. Hint: how much cost Osiris-Rex ? even saddled with science instruments, a non trivial part of the large expense lies with the launch vehicle.

[RotoSequence]

The legal framework would need to be put in place to protect their rights for exploration performed.

http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/claim.htm

Due to the 1967 treaty, an asteroid mining claim would consist solely of intellectual property rights, no physical property rights.

US law has already been revised to protect claim rights on space resources.