Planetary Resources

Planetary Resources
Name	Planetary Resources
Founded	2010
Founders	Peter H. Diamandis, Eric C. Anderson
Headquarters	Redmond, Washington
Industry	Aerospace, Mining
Fate	Acquired assets; operations ceased 2018

Planetary Resources was a private aerospace company founded in 2010 that pursued technologies for identifying and exploiting natural materials located on solar system bodies. The company brought together expertise drawn from the private spaceflight community, space science institutions, and mining engineering firms to design small spacecraft, prospecting sensors, and concepts for in-space manufacturing. Its activities intersected with debates in space policy, commercial exploration, and planetary science.

Overview

Planetary Resources was established by entrepreneurs linked to Publius, X Prize Foundation, and influential figures in private spaceflight, attracting investors from Amazon (company), Google, and venture capital in Silicon Valley. The organization proposed near-term missions using small satellites to survey near-Earth objects and proposed architectures informed by studies at NASA Ames Research Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and collaborations with university groups such as California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University. Technical leadership included engineers and scientists with backgrounds at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and startups like Planet Labs and SpaceX. High-profile advisors and backers included personalities associated with Microsoft, The Boeing Company, and the philanthropic networks of Virgin Group entrepreneurs.

Types of Planetary Resources

The company focused on a range of extraterrestrial materials comparable to terrestrial commodities traded on markets such as New York Stock Exchange and London Metal Exchange: water ice, volatiles, metals, and silicates. Water ice in permanently shadowed regions was analogous in strategic value to freshwater reservoirs exploited by firms in California. Volatiles like hydrogen and oxygen were seen as propellants comparable to feedstocks in chemical industries represented by ExxonMobil-adjacent markets; metallic iron, nickel, and cobalt were likened to ores handled by multinational miners such as Rio Tinto and BHP. Precious metals, including platinum-group elements, were discussed in terms similar to assets traded at Tokyo Commodity Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The firm also considered regolith and construction-grade regolith simulants similar to materials used in projects at NASA Johnson Space Center for in-situ resource utilization.

Methods of Resource Identification and Mapping

Planetary Resources proposed using small satellite constellations and instruments derived from remote sensing programs like those at Land Remote Sensing Satellite initiatives to prospect asteroids and lunar terrains. Techniques included multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, thermal infrared mapping, and radar sounding informed by heritage from missions such as NEOWISE, Dawn (spacecraft), and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Survey strategies drew on orbital mechanics analyses developed in studies at European Space Agency facilities and trajectory optimization methods used by teams at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Ground-based follow-up would leverage telescopes at observatories such as Mauna Kea Observatories, Palomar Observatory, and Arecibo Observatory (prior to its collapse). Data processing pipelines paralleled analytics systems from Google and remote-sensing processors at US Geological Survey for spectral unmixing and mineralogical classification.

Extraction and Processing Technologies

Proposed extraction concepts ranged from low-thrust capture and tethered retrieval architectures akin to concepts studied at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to in-situ processing units inspired by terrestrial mining equipment from firms like Caterpillar Inc. and Sandvik. For volatile extraction, thermal mining and microwave heating mirrored laboratory work at Colorado School of Mines and pilot studies in permafrost extraction. Metal liberation approaches referenced electrochemical reduction techniques evaluated at MIT Materials Processing Center and additive manufacturing approaches similar to programs at GE Aviation and Relativity Space. Propellant-production concepts built on electrolysis systems and cryogenic handling procedures comparable to experiments at European Southern Observatory facilities for cryogenics. The company also explored robotics and autonomy for manipulation tasks drawing on advances demonstrated by DARPA challenges and robotic systems from Boston Dynamics research.

Legal, Economic, and Ethical Considerations

Discussions about extracting off-Earth resources intersected with international agreements such as the Outer Space Treaty and national policy frameworks like the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. Economic analyses compared capital requirements to analogous sectors represented by Goldman Sachs and infrastructure financing models used in World Bank projects. Ethical deliberations referenced stewardship debates framed by scholars at Harvard University, University of Oxford, and think tanks including Center for Strategic and International Studies and Brookings Institution. Questions about property rights, benefit-sharing, and precedent called on jurisprudence from cases in International Court of Justice contexts and policy frameworks developed by United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

Environmental and Planetary Protection Issues

Scientific concerns over contamination and preservation employed protocols from Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and planetary protection guidelines used by NASA Planetary Protection Office. Potential impacts on small bodies raised comparisons to terrestrial conservation efforts led by International Union for Conservation of Nature and heritage protection exemplified by UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Risk-assessment approaches mirrored methodologies from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports and environmental impact assessments practiced by agencies such as Environmental Protection Agency (United States), adapted to space contexts. Community and scientific oversight discussions invoked collaborations among institutions including Smithsonian Institution, American Geophysical Union, and professional societies shaping norms for extracting extraterrestrial resources.

Category:Aerospace companies