Jobs Building Asteroid-Mining Robots Receive 2,000 Applicants

If you want to be an asteroid miner, you've got some stiff competition.

Less than three weeks after officially unveiling its asteroid-mining plans, the billionaire-backed firm Planetary Resources has already received thousands of job applications, officials said.

On April 24, the company announced that it was looking to hire a few qualified people — not pickaxe-swinging astronauts, mind you, but engineers who would help design and build a fleet of asteroid-mining robotic probes. The resulting resume deluge was so intense that Planetary Resources has turned off the spigot.

"We have received over 2,000 applications since our April 24th press event, and we are not currently accepting applications for full-time employees, summer internships or student co-ops," reads an update on the company's website. "In the near future, we will be seeking applications from students for Fall 2012 co-ops."

Planetary Resources was founded by private spaceflight pioneers Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson. Its investors include Google execs Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, who are worth $16.7 billion and $6.2 billion, respectively. Filmmaker and adventurer James Cameron, former NASA astronaut Tom Jones and MIT planetary scientist Sara Seager are advisers.

The company plans to mine near-Earth asteroids for platinum-group metals and water. Water can be broken into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen, the chief components of rocket fuel. The company hopes its efforts lead to the establishment of in-space "gas stations" that allow many spacecraft to refuel cheaply and efficiently.

Swarms of low-cost unmanned spacecraft would extract resources from asteroids in deep space. Planetary Resources officials have said they hope to identify some promising targets within the decade, though actual mining activities would come later.

Planetary Resources currently employs about two dozen engineers, officials said at the April 24 unveiling. Diamandis said the company hopes to stay relatively small, so it can move quickly and do what it can to keep costs down.

Check out more from Space.com:

Asteroid Mining Gallery: Planetary Resources To Mine Space Rocks

Asteroid Threat Becomes A Promise: New Space Venture Launches

Photos: Asteroids In Deep Space

Comments

[North of Toronto]

08:54 PM on 05/21/2012

Take $16.7 billion from Google and add $17 billion from Facebook and what could you do with that money? Why mine asteroids in space and bring back platinum. On giant leap for mankind - backward.

[BannedInBoston]

10:38 PM on 05/17/2012

This is great. Whatever it takes to get out there. The future of humanity lies in space. Short-term economic considerations are secondary. And the implication of the interview, with its stress on shielding and oxygen, was that human beings would be there as well to set up and "supervise" the robots. (I don't think the BBC reporter quite grasped this part....)

[teacherpat52]

10:26 PM on 05/17/2012

Who "owns" space; who "owns" asteroids and other celestial bodies; who will be trustworthy enough to oversee the ramifications (positive and negative) from this endeavor? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the exploration of space. We have to do it. However, this has got to be handled far better than what happened throughout the human race when explorers went in search of new lands to conquer, "own" and develop.

Am not certain of the ethics of these Google billionaires, Google being probably the biggest leader in invading privacy ever.

[demilieu]

01:44 PM on 05/17/2012

there aren't enough jobs for the available labor pool. i suspect this will be normal for the next few years.

[lifehub]

05:00 AM on 05/17/2012

The US is in an economic wipe-out which tragically includes the elimination of millions of jobs from decent Americans. This is just one of the results of an economy laying flat on its back: You now have to go into outer space to hopefully secure gainful employment.

[Logan107]

03:47 AM on 05/17/2012

I think I know what asteroid they started on, it's called The Moon.

[Autora]

02:09 AM on 05/17/2012

I would need to look into this more to know if I agree with ther basic idea (mining other planets for things some companies want back here on earth).

But I must admit I am surprised only a few thousand people applied for these possible jobs. They sound like so much fun I would have thought tens of thousands would apply.

Then again, we probably don't have tens of thousands of people qualified for that sort of work.

[muckatuck]

11:48 PM on 05/16/2012

don't know about all the haters on here.i think it's a pretty cool idea myself.

[BannedInBoston]

10:45 PM on 05/17/2012

Totally cool. The idea is first of all just to get "out there," whatever it takes. If we have to start out with the same old same old corporate capitalism so be it. Social systems will change radically (and I mean RADICALLY) once human beings have thoroughly "settled" the off-world habitats available in this star system....

[scg35]

11:22 PM on 05/16/2012

The company hopes its efforts lead to the establishment of in-space "gas stations" that allow many spacecraft to refuel cheaply and efficiently.
Sure will be better than those long lines now at those darn space pumps.

[knkdnsr]

11:48 PM on 05/16/2012

LMAO. Will it be self serve or will they have station attendants that also clean the windshield,check the oil and check the tire pressure. It is important to keep those space tires properly inflated for best fuel economy. You never know where the next space station will be along your travels. I wonder if they will be marked of the GPS maps?

[scg35]

12:08 AM on 05/17/2012

Yeah, Can you imagine the size of those space bug splatters on the windshield? I bet those stone chips can be real killers.
I imagine the only gas they will sell will be the High Test. I see it now, VW will come out with the all new Space Buggy. I look so forward.

[diehardrockchik]

03:18 AM on 05/17/2012

Too funny! :P But I actually think it's a great idea. They're laying the groundwork for when humanity has the ability to travel beyond Mars, or even beyond our own solar system. Having a few "gas stations" in our system would be really helpful. Could you imagine buying a car with a gas tank big enough to hold all the gas you'll need for a cross-country trip? It'd probably be really expensive. But could you then imagine actually driving the thing? It'd be huge, so it probably wouldn't be very efficient. My guess is that the same would go for space travel. Launching a ship with enough fuel to get to Pluto and back would be really expensive - and tricky, too. If they could even cut the size of the fuel tank in half and just refill halfway there, it probably would be easier that way. :)

[hat1701d]

10:22 PM on 05/16/2012

Does anyone find it even slightly ironic that this venture is spearheaded ( largely ) by James Cameron? You know, James ( Avatar ) Cameron? Avatar, the incredible CGI special effects science fiction movie that is all about anti big corporation. Anti-mining and destruction of the enviroment. Shows humans heading off into space to rip up other worlds because they have pretty much wasted Earth and that we should do this because we would be spreading our destructive tendencies elsewhere? I sure find it ironic. Yes, asteroids may not be the fictional jungle moon of Pandora but it seems Mr. Cameron is willing to step away from his preachy beliefs to make the money for "unobtanium" for himself.

[demilieu]

01:47 PM on 05/17/2012

and titanic too. he directed titanic.

[North of Toronto]

09:01 PM on 05/21/2012

Earth First! We'll mine the other planets later.

[hat1701d]

01:51 AM on 05/22/2012

Lol, I just find it amusing that Avatar was all about how we will wreck our own planet then go out and wreck others. That we can't do this. Now, Cameron is all for footing the bill to start the process. Irony, I love it, and it is evidently lost on him all for the future and potential monetary gain of generations to come.

[ww745]

09:59 PM on 05/16/2012

This just goes to show. If there is money to be made. The private sector will find a way to do it.

[codifex]

10:01 PM on 05/16/2012

I'm all for the Private Sector making money. I'm also for somebody watching them and making sure they clean up their mess.

[WI Patriot]

01:08 AM on 05/17/2012

I'm for watching the people who claim to be cleaning up messes, as they are usually the ones that make them.

[ww745]

09:38 AM on 05/17/2012

Who you going to get to watch them? The government? Look at the debacle we have with solyndra and other "green" companies. Who was there to watch the government before they wasted over a billion dollars? Who was there to see where those "shovel ready jobs" were for? The media? They only tell you want they want you to know. Weather it is the government or the media. That way it is easier to manipulate the people. In this video you will see where those "shovel ready jobs" went. They did not go to American workers. They went to Chinese companies to do work right here in America. Where are your watchers in the government or the media to tell you that?

http://riggedreality.com/kj-china-invading-america-now-2012-the-silent-takeover/

[lookskyward]

09:56 PM on 05/16/2012

I feel I may be precisely suited for this kind of work: A job in outer space!

[PoppaG]

09:51 PM on 05/16/2012

no room to move up

[ww745]

10:00 PM on 05/16/2012

No but there is room to move further out.

[knkdnsr]

11:52 PM on 05/16/2012

But I bet the benefits are out of this world.

[darkevolutonary]

09:51 PM on 05/16/2012

Hasn't this been the plot of a few movies???

[codifex]

09:53 PM on 05/16/2012

A fair number of books too! I'm excited about the possibilities but I'm also just a sure somebody is going to fubar the thing and send a big rock our way "accidentally".

[lookskyward]

10:05 PM on 05/16/2012

I've been thinking about what you just said and, well, frankly, Darkevo you've got
me rather off center. I've found a blanket and threw an extra log on the fire as these Maine
nights even in mid spring can be chilly.
Is it possible something might be out there watching me? There's a lot of land between the shell of the house and the tree line. And I border a state forest and except for that institution for psychological disorders a couple of miles away it's a pretty isolated spot here. ( I lock the doors though).
Never mind, If you'll excuse me I'm going into the basement. I know there's some of the rare
scotch at the end of the room down there, it's dark but I'll only be a minute....

[darkevolutonary]

12:01 AM on 05/17/2012

Yeah, I'm waiting for Rod Serling at this point...

[sageparadox]

09:50 PM on 05/16/2012

Darn it! I knew I should have majored in engineering instead of become a Jedi Knight.