One U.S. company's bold plan to mine asteroids flying by Earth

Deep Space Industries sees dollar signs in the stars

The DragonFly concept
(Image credit: DSI)

Brace yourselves for the coming asteroid gold rush. U.S. company Deep Space Industries this week revealed plans to send spacecraft on missions to mine near-Earth asteroids for precious metals. According to the announcement, the company plans to dispatch a series of small, low-cost satellites by 2015. A year later, a larger spacecraft equipped with mining tools will land on any potentially lucrative space rocks to dig out the goods. The mission, says chairman Rick Tumlinson, would tap into resources necessary to "expand the civilization of Earth out into the cosmos ad infinitum."

How would it work? The company is hoping to fly two tiny prospecting probes — FireFly and DragonFly, both of which weigh less than 75 pounds — into space. To save on costs, these vessels would piggyback on the launches of larger communications satellites. Once airborne, FireFly and DragonFly would then spend half a year buzzing around asteroids to collect rock samples.

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Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.