James Cameron, Google's Eric Schmidt And Larry Page Back Space Exploration Project

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and billionaire co-founder Larry Page have teamed up with "Avatar" director James Cameron and other investors to back an ambitious space exploration and natural resources venture, details of which will be unveiled next week.

The fledgling company, called Planetary Resources, will be unveiled at a Tuesday news conference at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, according to a press release issued this week.

Aside from naming some of the company's high-profile backers, the press release disclosed tantalizingly few details, saying only that the company will combine the sectors of "space exploration and natural resources" in a venture that could add "trillions of dollars to the global GDP." The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Planetary Resources will explore the feasibility of mining natural resources from asteroids, a decades-old concept.

"This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of 'natural resources,'" according to the press release.

Planetary Resource was co-founded by Eric Anderson, a former NASA Mars mission manager, and Peter Diamandis, the commercial space entrepreneur behind the X-Prize, a competition that offered $10 million to a group that launched a reusable manned spacecraft. Other notable investors include Charles Simonyi, a former top executive at Microsoft, and K. Ram Shriram, a Google director.

The venture will be the latest foray into the far-flung for Cameron, who dived last month in a mini-submarine to the deepest spot in the Mariana Trench. The plot of his 2009 science fiction blockbuster film, "Avatar," concerned resource mining on alien planets.

(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Also on HuffPost:

Flip through the slideshow for a look at companies and crafts that may be the next wave in space exploration.

Loading Slideshow

• Bloon - Zero2Infinity's Balloon

  The bloon, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/bloon-space-balloon-pictures-video_n_935415.html" target="_hplink">a helium-filled balloon</a>, will take a capsule with as many as six people to 118,000 feet -- not quite outer space, but near space. The company expects to make its first commercial flight in 2013. The cost? €110,000, or about $147,000.

• NASA

  NASA announced in September that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/nasa-space-launch-system-sls_n_962051.html" target="_hplink">it's developing the Space Launch System (SLS)</a>, a heavy-lift rocket that will one day take humans farther than ever before. The 34-story rocket will carry six astronauts aboard the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/" target="_hplink">Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle</a>. <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2392960,00.asp" target="_hplink">According to PC Mag</a>, NASA will spend $18 billion over the next five years developing the SLS. With <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/14/space-shuttle-program-qa-_n_861994.html" target="_hplink">the retirement of the space shuttle program</a>, NASA currently pays Russia around $60 million per person to get American astronauts into space. Remember, there's still time <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/nasa-to-hire-new-astronauts_n_1095686.html" target="_hplink">to apply to be an astronaut</a>.

• Virgin Galactic

  Over 450 "astronauts" have already booked a $200,000 spot on Sir Richard Branson's SpaceShipTwo, a craft that will take passengers to an altitude of 110 km (68.3 miles). Branson hopes to begin commercial flights in 2013, but that date could get pushed back. "We want to be sure we've really tested the craft through and through before turning it over to the astronauts who bought tickets to go up," he said in October, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/18/richard-branson-dedicates_n_1017226.html" target="_hplink">according to the Associated Press</a>. "If it takes a bit longer, we'll take a little bit longer." Passengers will experience about five minutes of weighlessness during the 2 1/2 hour sub-orbital spaceflight.

• SpaceX

  In December 2010, SpaceX <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/16/spacex-international-space-station_n_927916.html" target="_hplink">became the first private company</a> to have a spacecraft re-enter orbit, <a href="http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20101208" target="_hplink">when its Dragon spacecraft</a> orbited earth twice and then landed in the Pacific Ocean. Next stop? The International Space Station. A representative from SpaceX told HuffPost that a Dragon capsule carrying supplies to the ISS will launch in early 2012. It will be the first commercial company to berth a spacecraft with the space station. But you're going to have to be a NASA astronaut to hitch a ride to space with SpaceX, as the company doesn't have any plans in the near future for space tourism.

• Blue Origin

  Blue Origin, the notoriously-secretive company underwritten by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is developing both orbital and sub-orbital launch vehicles to take people into space. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/03/blue-origin-spaceship-fai_n_947731.html" target="_hplink">The company recently released video</a> of a test of its New Shepard rocket, a three-person capsule and launch vehicle that the company is planning to use to take space tourists "to the edge of space." The cost and timeline of the completion of the New Shepard is unclear. <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-awards-next-set-of-commercial-crew-development-agreements-120113774.html" target="_hplink">In April, Blue Origin was awarded</a> $22 million from NASA "to advance commercial crew space transportation system concepts and mature the design and development of elements of their systems, such as launch vehicles and spacecraft."

• Space Adventures/Armadillo Aerospace

  Space Adventures, a company that has sent seven private citizens to the International Space Station, <a href="http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.viewnews&newsid=791" target="_hplink">announced in 2010</a> that it would partner with Armadillo Aerospace to provide suborbital spaceflights. The <a href="http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=suborbital.Vehicle_Design" target="_hplink">two-passenger rocket</a> will land and take-off vertically and allow for a 360-degree view of the earth below. According to Jaunted, the rocket will travel 62 miles above the earth. <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/13/space-adventures-undercuts-virgin-galactic-announces-100-000/" target="_hplink">Engadget reports</a> that a flight to space will set you back $102,000.

• Orbital Technologies' Space Hotel

  Of course, you'll need somewhere to put your bags once you're in space. Orbital Technologies, a Russian company, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/21/space-hotel-pictures-video_n_931951.html" target="_hplink">is building a space hotel</a> where 7 guests will be able to dine on veal cheeks and wild mushrooms at 217 miles above the earth. The company is planning to open the hotel in 2016. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/19/russia-space-tourism-idUSLDE77F0PF20110819" target="_hplink">According to Reuters</a>, a five-day stay will set you back a cool $1 million.

• Video: "Nasa Searches For Life Clues on Mars" info

From our partners

Comments

[brettze]

08:46 AM on 04/27/2012

Gpogle sees little opportunties in advertising to poor people abput microloans and cellphones etc

[brettze]

08:41 AM on 04/27/2012

Google needs to go advertising in the outer space first , anyway lol

[lilipilicious]

12:33 AM on 04/24/2012

Of all the things they can do with obs.cene amounts of money lying around, like manned missions to other planets or making deep space travel possible for humans to go to planets outside of our own solar system and all they pick some asteroids so they can mine them and then charge people. Humans are sad. Everything is about the bottom line. Even when they literally have the universe as their playground, all that matters is how to find ever newer, more exotic ways to sell stuff to people so they can make money.

[KrautMan]

04:39 AM on 04/24/2012

You show little understanding of the issue. The projects you mentioned as well as any other large-scale space mission all have to overcome one major obstacle, namely Earth's gravity well. That part of the journey is by far the most significant cost-driver, as each kilo of infrastructure and payload that has to get lifted up there costs insane amounts of money.

This situation would change dramatically if we were able to mine and refine resources somewhere beyond the gravity well and if we further had production facilities that could handle at least the bulk of that mass. Cost per kilo payload could be cut down to a fraction of the cost and missions would become feasible that are only wild dreams today.

Also we don't have the technology to reach 'planets outside of our own solar system' in under hundreds of thousands of years (to the closest systems), so it is reasonable to keep our eyes on our own system for the time being.

[lilipilicious]

11:50 AM on 04/26/2012

i understand that propulsion is a major obstacle hence stating that they should focus their research and efforts on those things instead of mining.

[StressedJester]

08:27 AM on 04/25/2012

I completely disagree. Right now we don't have the capabilities to travel beyond our solar system simply because we do not have the technology to be able to travel the enormous distances in short amounts of time. Generation after generation, our population is increasing on this planet and resources are being depleted at an alarming rate so at some point, the planet will become barren of resources. It is absolutely essential for the survival of our race (the human race, to be clear) to be able to find more resources and advance our technology to the point where we can offload some of the burdens of our population to other planets.

These people are starting a process that just might help us do that. Science tells us that there are approximately 4000 known minerals and 118 chemical elements in the universe however this strictly comes from our experience on THIS planet. Mining on other planets many in fact find us new minerals, new chemicals, and potentially new fuels that can help us take our technology to the point where we can travel long distances in short time periods.

Many great discovers have been made by people just trying to make some money and with a little luck, maybe this will be another of those occasions.

[lilipilicious]

11:50 AM on 04/26/2012

hence research into propulsion

[iluvsade]

10:12 PM on 04/23/2012

A little help from Captian Kirk and Captian Picard...we can pull this little stunt off without a hitch. Well maybe we might need Spocks help too...

[SimianNation]

10:00 PM on 04/23/2012

I find it sad that a number of the posts I have read are from people that are against going into space. They do not see the rewards, both technological and scientific, that is reaped by this human endeavor. They talk about the cost of such programs, but in reality, we spend so very little compared to the gains that we have made and the future it will create.

It makes me think of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

[BLinCincinnati]

09:53 AM on 04/24/2012

Also, sadly most of those people think that the money that is spent on these type of things simply vanishes once it's spent. They simply don't have the mental grasp of how that money just doesn't vanish but instead fuels the economy. If $10 billion is spent on a project like this then that is $10 billion that went to pay workers' wages. Be it the people that actually assembled the rockets, or the guy that built parts for the rocket, or all the way down the line to the guy working in the iron mine that helped dig up all that iron ore that went into the steel for the rocket.

[Edwin Keever Jr]

09:16 PM on 04/23/2012

To boldly go whwre no one has gone before. I think I have gone everywhere. If I got to go I got to go!

[nikkikelby]

08:40 PM on 04/23/2012

If any gold, silver, platinum, or large amonts of rare earth elements are found the next race will be on. Then we the people of this great nation should make the military share all the advanced technology they have been developing with our tax money. 50 years and trillions of dollars thrown at black projects, i'm sure they have developed more than a better rockets or planes. Many great minds and no great breakthroughs in propulsion. I think not!

[KrautMan]

04:41 AM on 04/24/2012

Don't be silly.

[rlharbi]

08:06 PM on 04/23/2012

All this while children are starving all over the world. It's hard, very hard to get rich but it is easy to be a hero by giving it away to some publicity stunt. We are many years from any return. Sure would be easy to get fresh water and food to those that don't have it. Just a little money!

[musikhut]

10:05 PM on 04/23/2012

Every time one of these articles comes out there's always someone who whines and moans about "the starving children" without having a clue as to how much these people may have already donated to such projects.

[White Raven]

07:38 PM on 04/23/2012

All I want to know is: Where can I buy stock in Planetary Resources?

[creativeknowledge]

07:08 PM on 04/23/2012

... its called project bluebeam ...

[SimianNation]

09:34 PM on 04/23/2012

Project Blue Beam is a conspiracy theory that claims that NASA is attempting to implement a New Age religion with the Antichrist at its head and start a New World Order, via a technologically-simulated Second Coming.

The allegations were contained in an audio presentation in 1994 by Quebecois journalist turned conspiracy theorist Serge Monast and later published in his book Project Blue Beam (NASA). Proponents of the theory allege that Monast and another, unnamed, journalist, who both died of heart attacks in 1996, were in fact assassinated. In addition, the Canadian government allegedly kidnapped Monast's daughter in an effort to dissuade him from investigating Project Blue Beam.[1][2]

The project was apparently supposed to be implemented in 1983,[1] but was delayed. It was then set for implementation in 1995 and then 1996.[3] Monast thought Project Blue Beam would be brought to fruition by the year 2000,[4] really, definitely, for sure.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Beam

[Al Schrader]

06:43 PM on 04/23/2012

The Large Hadron Collider (a ten billion dollar machine) was built to study the particle I discovered. I've been involved in the building of more rockets than anyone there is. I did it for 19 years. I already have the technology needed to go to other stars right now....Alfred-

[nikkikelby]

08:59 PM on 04/23/2012

If you do than don't hoard like the military. Share or build the ships and lets go mine. I'm sure there are better resources out in the solar system. Lets start acting like an advanced culture and get our resources from space. This is our only planet and we are destroying it at an alarming rate. We have no where else to go if we dirty our world to much.

[SimianNation]

09:40 PM on 04/23/2012

You wouldn't be the same Schrader that discovered the Graviton, would you?

[KrautMan]

04:47 AM on 04/24/2012

Yeah, he is. He also is a chef who catered to presidents and a hundred thousand other VIPs. Also he gave away technology worth hundreds of billions for free to desalinate saltwater and feed the world.

I have no doubt that he also holds a dozen of the special secret Nobel prizes, is a famous rockstar by night and single-handedly bested Sauron in a cage fight. His time-machine is only rivaled in reach by his trans-dimensional warp-drive. Show a bit of respect for the man.

[primary116]

05:16 PM on 04/23/2012

This is a prime example of "trickle down" economics. Just let capital accumulate among the elite, and they will waste it in the most imaginative ways.

[pbgardenpet]

02:13 PM on 04/23/2012

Anything is better than NASA doing it. They just waste our money and should be shut down.

[sandman7733]

02:36 PM on 04/23/2012

Why? Space exploration is not a drain on the economy; it generates infinitely more than wealth than it spends. Royalties on NASA patents and licenses currently go directly to the U.S. Treasury, not back to NASA. NASA has done so much with so little that it has generally been assumed to have had a huge budget. In fact, the 2007 NASA budget of $16.3 billion is a minute fraction of the $13 trillion total G.D.P. Economic, scientific and technological returns of space exploration have far exceeded the investment. Observing Earth has provided G.P.S., meteorological forecasts, predictions and management of hurricanes and other natural disasters, and global monitoring of the environment, as well as surveillance and intelligence. Satellite communications have changed life and business practices with computer operations, cell phones, global banking, and TV. Studying humans living in the microgravity of space has expanded our understanding of osteoporosis and balance disorders, and has led to new treatments. Wealth-generating medical devices and instrumentation such as digital mammography and outpatient breast biopsy procedures and the application of telemedicine to emergency care are but a few of the social and economic benefits of manned exploration that we take for granted.
Last year alone, Americans spent over $154 billion on alcohol and we were spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq. There are A LOT of other things that are a MUCH, MUCH bigger waste of money than NASA.

[pbgardenpet]

04:08 PM on 04/23/2012

Private businesses can do it better and for half the price than NASA can.

[primary116]

05:20 PM on 04/23/2012

Well said Sandman,
Great accomplishments that have made us proud; just not supportive of manned missions after the great successes of robotic probes.

[hat1701d]

04:55 PM on 04/23/2012

Oh, I don't know. Let's look at this, NASA has an average FISCAL budget ( or rather HAD ) of approximately 18 billion dollars. That was to operate EVERY SINGLE program under their "umbrella". Everything from the Space Shuttle to things such as grants and scholarships for college students. It paid the wages of extremely skilled personel and allows programs to function that includes both Voyager 1 and 2 which STILL OPERATE and send data back to earth as the farthest man made machines...They were launched back in 1977. 18 billion to last 365 consecutive days, 24 / 7 for all operations including joint projects with ESA and projects with various colleges that assist in operating and controlling spacecraft like the Spitzer Infared Telescope and Kepler Telescope amongst many. 18 billion......which the Federal Goverment BLOWS through in about 4 days continously for no reason and without any beneficial outcome.

[primary116]

05:22 PM on 04/23/2012

Awesome accomplishments and much more to come! However, first economy might best be leaving humans to control from the ground.

[SimianNation]

09:43 PM on 04/23/2012

The silly monkeys will never learn, until it is too late!

[MayFlower27]

01:54 PM on 04/23/2012

There are reasons why many countries have not duplicated the program. The few engineers that do have manned space program experience are laying on the beach enjoying the layoff and could care less...

[mcfuson]

01:04 PM on 04/23/2012

Some posts here are against going into space. I guess they think a few little space craft are A threat to space. come on we are but a drop in the ocean compared to the vastness of space and are no threat to it. If indeed we could live on other planets we should explore that possibility.

[bellsblu2]

02:23 PM on 04/23/2012

You are referring to the flat earthers, and anti government types.

They should be forced to hand over their unobtainium on the count of three, or become test subjects in deep space research.