Entrepreneurs Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis founded Space Adventures in 1998. Since then Space Adventures has arranged all eight of the trips to the International Space Station taken by private citizens, including Microsoft software architect Charles Simonyi and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté (www.spaceadventures.com).
Last week Eric and Peter, along with Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Google, Ross Perot Jr. and a host of other successful business people announced a new venture called Planetary Resources that has set out an audacious plan to mine near-Earth asteroids for water and platinum group metals. Links to a few media articles on this announcement are included below.
Eric and Peter are one connection between both ventures, but together they also represent the future of mankind’s relationship with space. Space Adventures is working hard to make space more accessible for private citizens, and now Planetary Resources is aiming to make the resources of space more accessible for mankind’s use in space and on Earth.
If you share this vision, participating in your own mission to the international Space Station is just one way you can contribute to the advancement of private space exploration.
Bloomberg – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-24/google-chiefs-back-startup-mining-asteroids-for-metals.html
New York Times – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/science/space/in-pursuit-of-riches-and-travelers-supplies-in-the-asteroid-belt.html?_r=2
BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17827347