U.S. space company plans to mine near-Earth asteroids

PanARMENIAN.Net - A new American space company has announced ambitious plans to mine near-Earth asteroids, Belfast Telegraph said.

Deep Space Industries (DSI) intends to send a fleet of small prospecting spacecraft into the solar system in 2015.

In a decade or so, it hopes to be harvesting metals from the space rocks as well as sources of water and fuel for interplanetary missions.

The 55lb FireFly robots will undertake journeys of two to six months to search for candidate asteroids.

To cut costs, the aim is to hitch rides into orbit with larger communication satellites.

The FireFlies will pave the way for a flotilla of larger 70lb spacecraft equipped to collect samples and bring them back to Earth.

Starting in 2016, the DragonFly craft will be launched on round trips lasting two to four years, depending on the target.

The missions are part of a long-term project to harvest metals and other materials from asteroids passing near the Earth.

They will initially be used to build, equip and fuel satellites and space vehicles, including those being sent on long-distance missions to Mars and beyond.

"Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development," said DSI chief executive David Gump.