Planetary Resources, Inc., formerly known as Arkyd Astronautics, was an American company that was formed on 1 January 2009,ARKYD Astronautics Founded http://www.planetaryresources.com/2009/01/draft-arkyd-astronautics-founded/ and reorganized and renamed in 2012. Its stated goal was to "expand

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

's natural resource base" by developing and deploying the technologies for

asteroid mining Asteroid mining is the hypothetical extractivism, extraction of materials from asteroids and other minor planets, including near-Earth objects. Notable asteroid mining challenges include the high cost of spaceflight, unreliable identification ...

. Following financial troubles caused by "delayed investment", it was announced on 31 October 2018, that the company's human assets were purchased by the

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

software technology company ConsenSys, Inc. In May 2020, ConsenSys made all Planetary Resources intellectual property available to the public domain, and in June 2020, all the remaining hardware assets were auctioned off. Although the long-term goal of the company was to mine

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s, its initial plans called for developing a market for small (30–50 kg) cost-reduced

space telescope A space telescope (also known as space observatory) is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO ...

s for

Earth observation Earth observation (EO) is the gathering of information about the physical, chemical, and biosphere, biological systems of the planet Earth. It can be performed via remote sensing, remote-sensing technologies (Earth observation satellites) or throu ...

and astronomy. These spacecraft would have employed a laser-optical system for ground communications, reducing payload bulk and mass compared to conventional RF antennas. The deployment of such orbital telescopes was envisioned as the first step forward in the company's asteroid mining ambitions. The same telescope satellite capabilities that Planetary Resources hoped to sell to customers could have been used to survey and intensively examine

near-Earth asteroid A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit aro ...

s. Planetary launched two test satellites to orbit. ''Arkyd 3 Reflight'' (''A3R'') was launched and successfully transported to Earth orbit on 17 April 2015, on

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

's CRS-6 mission, and was deployed from the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

via the

NanoRacks Nanoracks LLC is an American private in-space services company which builds space hardware and in-space repurposing tools. The company also facilitates experiments and launches of CubeSats to Low Earth Orbit. Nanoracks's main office is in H ...

CubeSat Deployer on 16 July 2015. ''Arkyd 6'', the company's second satellite, was successfully placed into orbit on 12 January 2018.

History

Planetary Resources, Inc was founded as Arkyd Astronautics on 1 January 2009, with

Peter Diamandis Peter H. Diamandis ( ; born May 20, 1961) is an American engineer, physician, and entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder and chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, and the cofounder and executive chairman of Singularity University. He is ...

as co-chairman and director, and Chris Lewicki as president and chief engineer. According to co-founder Eric C. Anderson, the name "Arkyd Astronautics" was deliberately ambiguous, to help keep the company's asteroid-mining agenda secret. The company gained media attention in April 2012 with the announcement of a press conference, scheduled for 24 April 2012. The initial press release provided limited information; as of 20 April 2012, only a list of major investors and advisors was known. Included in the list were many people notable for their entrepreneurship and interest in space, exploration, and research. Some also had previous involvement in space research. It was speculated that Planetary Resources was "looking for ways to extract raw materials from non-Earth sources," as how it would (as stated in the press release) "add trillions of dollars to the global GDP." From the outset, the dominant assumption was that the company intended to develop

operations, with one anonymous source reportedly verifying that claim in advance of the April 24 event. Arkyd Astronautics became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ''Planetary Resources''. In July 2012, Planetary Resources announced an agreement with

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate, which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and opera ...

to enable multiple launch opportunities for its series of spacecraft on

LauncherOne LauncherOne was a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that had operational flights from 2021 to 2023, after being in development from 2007 to 2020. It was an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat ...

starting with the Arkyd-100 series of space telescopes. By January 2013, Planetary Resources had completed a ground test prototype of the Arkyd-100 and released a limited set of details publicly. In April 2013, Planetary Resources announced that

Bechtel Corporation Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the ''Enginee ...

has joined Planetary Resources' group of investors and would be a collaborative partner in helping Planetary Resources achieve its long-term mission of mining asteroids. In April 2013, the company announced that they planned on launching a

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

called "Arkyd-3" (A3) in early 2014, as a testbed manifestation for the Arkyd-100 spacecraft. The purpose of the

flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

was to test technologies for the first Arkyd-100 spacecraft. In the event, the first A3 was launched in fall of 2014 but was destroyed in a launch accident; a second A3 spacecraft—designated A3R—was launched in April 2015 and deployed into orbit in July 2015. In May 2013, Planetary Resources announced the launch of

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

funding for the ARKYD-100. Their goal was surpassed on 19 June 2013. However, funding for the initial space telescope was not forthcoming. The accompanying

campaign was terminated and refunds were promised in May 2016. In June 2013, Planetary Resources took an undisclosed investment from

3D Systems 3D Systems Corporation is an American company based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, that engineers, manufactures, and sells 3D printers, 3D printing materials, 3D printed parts, and application engineering services. The company creates product c ...

and intends to make use of its 3D printing technology to manufacture components of the Arkyd spacecraft that Planetary Resources intends to use for finding near-Earth asteroids. By mid-2016, the company had grown to 60 employees, but still has no firm date for the launch of its first Arkyd satellite. A test satellite named ''Arkyd 3 Reflight'' (''A3R'') was launched and successfully transported to Earth orbit on 17 April 2015 and was deployed from the

via the

CubeSat Deployer on 16 July 2015. The ''"Reflight"'' descriptor was used because Planetary's first satellite, Arkyd 3, was destroyed on October 28, 2014, after an

Antares Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by ...

resupply rocket exploded seconds after launch. In May 2016, the company announced it had secured US$21.1 million in Series A funding, which it said would be used to deploy and operate a constellation of Earth observation satellites, to be known as Ceres, using ten of their Arkyd-100 satellites.Planetary Resources Raises $21.1 Million in Series A Funding; Unveils Advanced Earth Observation Capability http://www.planetaryresources.com/2016/05/planetary-resources-raises-21-1-million-in-series-a-funding-unveils-advanced-earth-observation-capability/ These could have been used both for surveying asteroids and for Earth observation, and were to feature an arc-second resolution camera. In November 2016,

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

invested €25 million in the company in the form of capital and research and development grants. The company announced the investment would be used for the launch of its first asteroid prospecting mission by 2020. Luxembourg had recently adopted draft legislation giving private operators rights to materials mined in space. The company's second satellite launch was successfully carried out on 11 January 2018. The Arkyd 6 flight-test satellite was delivered into orbit by the Indian

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite ...

PSLV-C40 PSLV-C40 was the 42nd mission of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) program in the XL configuration. PSLV-C40 successfully carried and deployed 31 satellites in Sun-synchronous orbits. Overview Two Surrey Satellite Technology sate ...

. Arkyd-6 had originally been announced to launch in late 2015 along with a number of other CubeSats, then to a planned April 2016 launch, and later had plans to launch on a

vehicle. In early 2018, the company failed to close a round of funding as planned, forcing layoffs. The company had planned on receiving investment from an unnamed mining company, but the investment was delayed due to budgetary reasons. The company's first asteroid prospecting mission, scheduled to launch in 2020, was delayed indefinitely. On 31 October 2018, Planetary Resources was acquired by ConsenSys, a

technology company. ConsenSys were to operate its space initiatives out of Planetary Resources' former facility in Redmond, WA.

Plans

Planetary Resources aimed to develop a robotic

industry. To achieve this, the company was operating on the basis of a long-term strategic plan. PlanetaryResources 3D printed satellite--201402

The first stage would have been a survey and analysis, using purpose-built satellites in Earth orbit, to locate the best potential targets among

near-Earth asteroids A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit aro ...

. Several small

space telescopes A space telescope (also known as space observatory) is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, ...

, with various sensing capabilities, were to be launched for this purpose. The company website asserted that their space telescopes would be made available for hire, for private uses. The company also intended to produce satellites for sale. They introduced their first model of space telescope, the Arkyd-100 (that is, as a planned spacecraft; only prototypes of the satellite were ever built, and only two preliminary prototype testing satellites were ever launched). Later stages of the strategic plan envisioned sending survey probes to selected asteroids in order to map, including deep-scanning, and to conduct sample-and-analysis and/or sample-and-return missions. The company had stated that it could take a decade to finish identifying the best candidates for commercial mining. Ultimately, their intent was to establish fully automated/robotic asteroid-based mining and processing operations, and the capability to transport the resulting products wherever desired. In addition to the extraction of industrial and precious metals for space-based and terrestrial use, the project envisioned producing water for an orbital propellant depot.

Arkyd-3 Flight test system

Planetary Resources packaged a number of the non-optical satellite technologies of the Arkyd-100—essentially the entire base of the Arkyd-100 satellite model revealed in January 2013, but without the space telescope—into a cost-effective format for early in-space flight testing on a

nanosatellite A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites c ...

named the Arkyd 3, or A3. The Arkyd-3 testbed satellite was packaged in a 3U

form-factor of . The first attempt to

validate Validation may refer to: * Data validation, in computer science, ensuring that data inserted into an application satisfies defined formats and other input criteria * Emotional validation, in interpersonal communication is the Emotion recognition, ...

and mature the technology met a setback on 28 October 2014, when the first Arkyd-3 test satellite was destroyed during launch in the explosion of the

Antares rocket Antares (), known during early development as Taurus II, is an American expendable medium-lift launch vehicle developed and built by Orbital Sciences Corporation (later Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman) with financial support from NASA ...

carrying it to the

(ISS). A second attempt to launch an Arkyd-3 spacecraft — designated A3R, or Arkyd-3 Reflight (also ARKYD-3R; COSPAR:1998-067GU; SATCAT: 40742) — took place on 14 April 2015 with a flight of

SpaceX CRS-6 SpaceX CRS-6, also known as SpX-6, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station, contracted to NASA. It was the eighth flight for SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft and the sixth SpaceX operational missi ...

to the ISS. After spending several months in the ISS, A3R was deployed on orbit on 16 July 2015 to begin flight testing. The test flight was expected to have an approximately 90-day duration.Planetary Resources’ First Spacecraft Successfully Deployed, Testing Asteroid Prospecting Technology on Orbit
accessed 17 July 2015. , the company had been silent on the progress of on-orbit testing following deployment from the ISS. The satellite subsystems tested on A3R the included the

avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...

attitude determination Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle or satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, ...

and

control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controlling ...

system (both sensors and actuators), and integrated

propulsion system Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...

that would enable

proximity operations Proximity may refer to: * Distance, a numerical description of how far apart objects are * Proxemics, the study of human spatial requirements and the effects of population density * Proximity (2000 film), ''Proximity'' (2000 film), an action/thril ...

for the Arkyd line of prospectors in the future. A3R reentered the atmosphere on 23 December 2015.What Happened to Planetary Resources’ Real Satellite?
Parabolic Arc, 8 January 2016, accessed 9 January 2016.

Arkyd-6 Flight test system

A second flight test unit for Planetary Resources — twice the size of A3R with a 6U form factor — was the Arkyd-6 (A6, also ARKYD 6A; COSPAR: 2018-004V; SATCAT: 43130). It was slated to test attitude control, power, and communication systems as well as a photo-display-and-retransmission system. As of July 2015, A6 was initially planned to launch in late 2015 along with a number of other cubesats. This date had slipped to a planned April 2016 launch. In their May 2016 announcement about securing additional funding, the company indicated they had signed a launch contract for Arkyd-6 with

. However, SpaceX experienced a flight anomaly in June 2015 and a launch pad anomaly in September 2016, each resulting in multi-month halts to SpaceX launches and a large backlog in the SpaceX launch manifest. A6 was placed into orbit on 12 January 2018 atop an Indian

via launch

. Arkyd 6 decayed from orbit on February 28, 2024.

References

* – an interview with advisor

Sara Seager Sara Seager (born 21 July 1971) is a Canadian-American astronomer and planetary scientist. She is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is known for her work on extrasolar planets and their atmospheres. She is the auth ...

External links