Planetary Resources, a new private company that seeks to mine asteroids and is backed by famous tech billionaires, sent an email to supporters on Friday stating that it would likely follow-through on an earlier proposal to start a fundraising campaign on the website Kickstarter, to solicit donations for an asteroid-finding space telescope that donors could control. As Planetary resources co-founders Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis wrote in the email:
“Remember, our original question was intended to determine the interest level for launching a *possible* Kickstarter campaign…Judging by your overwhelmingly positive response, the idea got two thumbs up!”
The company also published a blog post explaining the severely sci-fi origins of its’ planned telescope fleet’s name: Akryd.
“Arakyd Industries was originally a supplier of exploration droids, its most noteworthy achievement being the Viper probe droid model, which the Empire used to locate the Echo Base on the planet Hoth in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. The Viper model was based on the success of Galalloy Industries early probe droids – the first true probe droids to search planets and asteroids for valuable resources, such as metals to fuel the processing plants of industry.”
May the Force be with them.
