Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Planetary Resources Satellite Destroyed In Explosion

Seattle-based Planetary Resources suffered a huge setback in its plans to mine asteroids for valuable minerals, after its first, experimental satellite was destroyed in the catastrophic failure of a rocket from Orbital Sciences on Tuesday evening. Orbital Sciences spacecraft was aborted and destroyed in a gigantic explosion in Virginia. Planetary Sciences' first technology demonstration, the Arkyd 3, was on board the ill fated rocket. The company said that, despite the setback, it intends to launch its next vehicle, the Arkyd 6 (A6) for Q3 of 2015. The company said that "spaceflight is inherently risky" and that it achieved "most of its objectives" when it delivered its spacecraft to the launch pad. Planetary Resources had raised $1.5M on Kickstarter to help fund the Arkyd A3; the company had promised a "space selfie" of supporters taken on the A3 with the Earth as a background. It's unclear how the company intends to fulfill those pledges now.