Deep Space Industries will venture into asteroid-mining marketplace

Bryan Versteeg / Deep Space Industries

An artist's conception shows a settlement taking shape as part of an asteroid mining operation.



A new venture dubbed Deep Space Industries is jumping into the marketplace for asteroid mining — joining a billionaire-backed company called Planetary Resources in what they hope will eventually turn into a trillion-dollar business.

In a press advisory, Deep Space Industries says it will create "the world’s first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft." The venture also promises to develop a "breakthrough process for manufacturing in space."

"Deep Space is pursuing an aggressive schedule and plans on prospecting, harvesting and processing asteroids for use in space and to benefit Earth," the company said in a press advisory. Further details came out in a news release issued early Tuesday, and a news briefing is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) Tuesday at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying in California. The briefing will be webcast via Spacevidcast and YouTube.


Deep Space's CEO is David Gump, who has been involved in other space-themed companies including LunaCorp, which aimed to send rovers to the moon and also helped arrange one of the first TV commercials in orbit; Transformational Space, one of the early players in NASA's commercialization effort; and Astrobotic, one of the teams going after the Google Lunar X Prize.

The company's chairman is Rick Tumlinson, who was involved in founding the Space Frontier Foundation as well as private space ventures such as Space Diving and Orbital Outfitters. Geoff Notkin, host of the Science Channel's "Meteorite Men" TV series, announced that he'd join the venture as well. 

Financial questions
One of the key questions relates to the venture's financial backing: Theoretically, mining the right kind of asteroid could produce precious metals worth sending back to Earth, such as platinum, gold and rare-earth minerals. Some asteroids also contain water ice that can be converted into fuel and supplies for space travel and settlement. Under the right conditions, such resources could be worth trillions of dollars a year. But it would cost billions of dollars to identify and exploit those resources.

To cover such costs, Planetary Resources recruited a big-name investment group that includes Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, software executive and spaceflier Charles Simonyi, Texan billionaire Ross Perot Jr. and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ram Shriram. Planetary Resources also has a business plan that involves selling its Arkyd space telescopes as the first step toward profitability.

Planetary Resources President and Chief Asteroid Miner gives an update on the developments with the Arkyd-100 Space Telescope and prospecting technology demonstrator.

When Planetary Resources had its coming-out party last year, that company's executives said they planned to launch their first hardware in the 2013-2014 time frame. In a technical update released on Monday, the company's president, Chris Lewicki, didn't provide details about the launch schedule. But he did say there were "a number of exciting upcoming events," and indicated that the venture was currently concentrating on the development of low-cost prototype telescopes.

"With each new prototype build, we’re learning a lot about how to strip cost out of the assembly, integration and test process, and that will be incredibly valuable when we start mass production of the units destined for space," Lewicki said.

It's not yet clear whether Deep Space Industries will end up being a competitor for Planetary Resources — or a customer. But as with most outer-space ventures, the venture's financial underpinnings will be as much a key to success as its technological vision.

Update for 1:30 a.m. ET Jan. 22: Deep Space Industries provided more details in this voluminous news release:

"Deep Space Industries announced today that it will send a fleet of asteroid-prospecting spacecraft out into the solar system to hunt for resources to accelerate space development to benefit Earth. These 'FireFly' spacecraft utilize low-cost cubesat components and get discounted delivery to space by ride-sharing on the launch of larger communications satellites.

"'This is the first commercial campaign to explore the small asteroids that pass by Earth,' said Deep Space Chairman Rick Tumlinson (who signed up the world's first space tourist, led the team that took over the Mir space station, was a Founding Trustee of the X Prize, and Founded Orbital Outfitters, the world's first commercial space suit company.) 'Using low-cost technologies, and combining the legacy of our space program with the innovation of today's young high-tech geniuses, we will do things that would have been impossible just a few years ago.'

"FireFlies mass about 55 pounds (25 kilograms) and will first be launched in 2015 on journeys of two to six months. Deep Space will be building a small fleet of the spacecraft using innovative miniature technologies, and working with NASA and other companies and groups to identify targets of opportunity.

"'My smartphone has more computing power than they had on the Apollo moon missions,' said Tumlinson. 'We can make amazing machines smaller, cheaper, and faster than ever before. Imagine a production line of FireFlies, cocked and loaded and ready to fly out to examine any object that gets near the Earth.'

"Starting in 2016, Deep Space will begin launching 70-pound DragonFlies for round-trip visits that bring back samples. The DragonFly expeditions will take two to four years, depending on the target, and will return 60 to 150 pounds. Deep Space believes that combining science, prospecting and sponsorship will be a win/win for everyone, both lowering costs for exploration and enabling the public to join the adventure.

"'The public will participate in FireFly and DragonFly missions via live feeds from Mission Control, online courses in asteroid mining sponsored by corporate marketers, and other innovative ways to open the doors wide,' said CEO David Gump. His earlier ventures include producing the first TV commercial shot on the International Space Station for RadioShack, co-founding Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) and Astrobotic Technology Inc. 'The Google Lunar X Prize, Unilever, and Red Bull each are spending tens of millions of dollars on space sponsorships, so the opportunity to sponsor a FireFly expedition into deep space will be enticing.'

"Bringing back asteroid materials is only a step on the way to much bigger things for DSI. The company has a patent-pending technology called the MicroGravity Foundry to transform raw asteroid material into complex metal parts. The MicroGravity Foundry is a 3-D printer that uses lasers to draw patterns in a nickel-charged gas medium, causing the nickel to be deposited in precise patterns.

"'The MicroGravity Foundry is the first 3-D printer that creates high-density high-strength metal components even in zero gravity,' said Stephen Covey, a co-founder of DSI and inventor of the process. 'Other metal 3-D printers sinter powdered metal, which requires a gravity field and leaves a porous structure, or they use low-melting point metals with less strength.'

"Senior leaders at NASA have been briefed on DSI's technologies, which would make eventual crewed Mars expeditions less expensive through the use of asteroid-derived propellant.  Missions would require fewer launches if the fuel to reach Mars were added in space from the volatiles in asteroids.  Mars missions also would be safer with a MicroGravity Foundry on board to print replacements for broken parts, or to create brand new parts invented after the expedition was on its way to the Red Planet.

"'Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development,' said Gump. 'More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every year. They can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit car industry last century — a key resource located near where it was needed. In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the in-space industries of this century. That is our strategy.'

"For example, a large market for DSI is producing fuel for communications satellites. Low-cost asteroid propellant delivered in orbit to commsats will extend their working lifetimes, with each extra month worth $5 million to $8 million per satellite. DSI has executed a non-disclosure agreement with an aerospace company to discuss collaboration on this opportunity. In a decade, Deep Space will be harvesting asteroids for metals and other building materials, to construct large communications platforms to replace communications satellites, and later solar power stations to beam carbon-free energy to consumers on Earth. As DSI refines asteroids for in-space markets, it also will harvest platinum group metals for terrestrial uses, such as pollution control devices.

"'Mining asteroids for rare metals alone isn't economical, but makes sense if you already are processing them for volatiles and bulk metals for in-space uses,' said Mark Sonter, a member of the DSI board of directors. Mr. Sonter combines experience in planning, permitting, and management of large and complex terrestrial mining projects with funded research into the development of asteroid resources. 'Turning asteroids into propellant and building materials damages no ecospheres since they are lifeless rocks left over from the formation of the solar system. Several hundred thousand that cross near Earth are available.'

"Asteroids that fall to Earth are meteorites, and the Deep Space team includes Geoffrey Notkin, star of the international hit television series 'Meteorite Men' about hunting for them. Notkin has unparalleled expertise in the diversity and market value of these elusive rocks, which are transformed by intense heat during their plunge to the surface. By contrast, the initial asteroid samples to be brought back by Deep Space will have their original in-space composition and structure preserved, creating exceedingly rare specimens for sale to the research and collectors markets.

"Deep Space is looking for customers and sponsors who want to be a part of creating this new space economy. The company believes that taking the long view, while creating value, opportunities and products in the near term will allow it to become one of the economic engines that opens space to humanity. By getting under way and taking calculated risks, while developing basic industrial technologies, DSI will be well positioned over time to supply the basic needs of life in space. Taking the idea of socially minded companies to a new level, DSI is literally reaching for the stars.

"'We will only be visitors in space until we learn how to live off the land there,' concluded Tumlinson. 'This is the Deep Space mission — to find, harvest and process the resources of space to help save our civilization and support the expansion of humanity beyond the Earth — and doing so in a step-by-step manner that leverages off our space legacy to create an amazing and hopeful future for humanity. We are squarely focused on giving new generations the opportunity to change not only this world, but all the worlds of tomorrow. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

More about asteroid ventures:


Stay tuned for updates after Tuesday's news briefing.

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Discuss this post

Wow. I wonder if we really have the tech to find valuable asteroids out there and the tow them back to earth to be exploited. Or are they just trying to predict when that tech will be viable and thus get things rolling now to profit at that future time.

  • 2 votes
Reply#1 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:33 PM EST

I'd say "B"; lots of interesting plans and hypothetical artist impressions, with big dreams on making it practical.

  • 6 votes
#1.1 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:42 PM EST

Just glad to finally see a beginning to this. Hopefully they are successful because it would be so cool to see it actually happen for someone who has grown up reading about this.

  • 5 votes
#1.2 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:18 PM EST

If we found some large iron-based asteroids, that would increase the viability and reduce the cost of building a Death Star.

  • 5 votes
#1.3 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:46 PM EST

By refining and extruding spaceship structural beams right in place, they will be able to build up a pretty impressive fleet once they get the initial factory ship up and running.

Yay science!

  • 3 votes
#1.4 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:51 PM EST

This is how it all starts.... private interest leading to "accidental" leaps of tech benefiting us in awesome ways..... and horrifying us in terrible ways.

  • 2 votes
#1.5 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:20 AM EST

I'd consider this venture a success if they actually field some hardware in space because marketing the concept has been done before. But their plans are more realistic than previous ones and their business plan more robust. When this concept is executed, it will provide valuable infrastructure and resources for many other space-based activities, but if this isn't a profitable venture in 5 years, we shouldn't be despondent.

  • 1 vote
#1.6 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:56 AM EST

I like your comment Flame. Thinking about this and other recent articles reminds me that science is both a blessing and a curse. Sort of like human nature.

  • 2 votes
#1.7 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:26 AM EST

Ty Zen.... I'm all for "Engage" when it comes to space exploration especially moons and planets. I also see that there is nothing intrinsically wrong in making some profit or a profitable offshoot of space based tech. But when profit becomes the driving force it usually end up in with very 'nefarious' endeavors.

IE (This is my Imagination and I write recreationally) STORY TIME:

BREAKING NEWS// IMC (International Mining Corp.) Has just announced its 3rd, full scale asteroid mining operation in as many months... Our commentator : Anderson Copper from CNM (Central News Markets) has an exclusive interview with the CEO of IMC:

"Hello and welcome to Copper 180. I'm with IMC chairman George Sordos who agreed to this interview. Good evening Mr. Sordos and thank you for being with us today."

"Thank you Anderson and please call me George." He said in a friendly tone. His forced smile was large and friendly, the lights made his expensive suit especially dark and his teeth particularly white. He gleamed of health and wealth and except for his habit of looking at the camera instead of the host, you almost believed he wanted to be there.

"Ok 'George'..." Over emphasizing the name as if it was improper. ".. So we heard that IMC is going full speed ahead in expanding new mining sites in the asteroid rich area between Mars and Jupiter, But no official government or UN approval of any permits have been ratified. Does this concern you at all on the impact it could have on future endeavors?" He let his question hang there, waiting for the answer. Sordos barely paused, rolling his eyes dismissively yet without breaking his grin.

"No not at all..." He leaned forward toward Anderson as if making him an offer as he continued. "...We are simply striking the iron while it's hot as it were, We have the largest investors on the planet and have done our research and exploratory missions. We are working hand in hand with government agencies, sharing research and information with the same and volunteered our own 'representatives' to lobby the UN and Congress to make sure when permits are issued we will be in full compliance with the laws."

"But that's the thing Mr. Sor... I mean George that there have been no safety guidelines established, space based working standards and even though its in space it seems no published studies have been even talked about in the public. What can you tell the audience today that could address some of these concerns?" Anderson pressed Mr. Sordos, trying to milk the interview as much as possible... as well as the ratings.

"Now Now Andy..." His smile briefly dropping and quickly reappearing.

"Sir that's Anderson" Copper quickly interjected, hating to be called "Andy".

"Oh I'm Sorry Anderton..." He continued mispronouncing his name again. ..."We have an impeccable safety record that is reviewed by relevant agencies, have 40 yrs 'Earth' mining experience and , as I've stated before, we share our mining results and relevant research with all interested parties... we are an "open book, ready to serve the community."

"But sir there have been reports of civil rights abuses by IMC saying that you used "unskilled" labor from third world countries on your asteroid facilities and have some safety concerns that have plagued your earth-based operations. This leads many of your critics saying the IMC is not following rules here. How can we, as the public be convinced that you are following rules 'yet to be written'?" His probing question seem to strike a nerve as for the first time, Gorge's smile dipped for longer than usual but after a breif pause it reappeared like the Cheshire Cat, renewed its slyness.

"My dear Amperton.."

"THATS ANDERSON SIR!!" He interrupted with force, tiring of having his name butchered.

"Oh.. pardon me Mr. Anderpon..." His smile firmly planted as Copper slapped his forehead with his palm.. leaning back into his chair as he continued. "...These reports are overblown and exaggerated. We are base in the US.. all profits come back here and the 'foreign' workforce were volunteers ready to 'mine' the newest frontier. This is a great opportunity for all that will benefit everyone as time goes on." Smiling as if he won. As if the show was his and Mr. Anderson was the guest.

"Well..." Mr. Anderson no longer wanting to speak to him. "You have been a great guest and we appreciate you coming on."

"Thank you Mr. Amperon.... You have been a great host.... I would be delited to come on again anytime."

" (Sheesh) This is Mr. ANDERSON!!! 180 signing off."

    #1.8 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:12 PM EST
    Reply

    just imagine ships built in space with abundant materials being sold cheaply because there is so much supply and not enough demand then all you would have to do is buy a ride to your ship bring a few things and buy the rest on a station that is in orbit selling the things you need to turn your ship into a home then you could pick up a job hauling things with your extra cargo space and buy some more junk

    • 2 votes
    Reply#2 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:36 PM EST

    Like your car, there's rather more to a spaceship than just a metal frame. And it takes a lot of other things to even get to that point from raw ore, no matter how abundant...

    • 3 votes
    #2.1 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:03 PM EST

    But that too is part of the next iteration of a space economy: Orbiting Ore Processing Plants, Manufacturing Plants, even Component Manufacturing plants. I wonder if we can develop mass-produced circuit boards with all the components in a weightless environment or will we have to develop rotational artificial gravity to allow a soldering bath for the circuit boards to wash across? After watching How it's Made, I try to imagine each different activity in a weightless environment. Not impossible, just extremely different and an extremely different way of doing business. Suspect a lot of that will be done via telerobotics to minimize bone density loss.

    Lastly, Solar Energy is great but I believe the time for nuclear propulsion and nuclear energy are going to be required to accomplish our new space economy objectives.

    • 1 vote
    #2.2 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:19 PM EST

    "I wonder if we can develop mass-produced circuit boards with all the components in a weightless environment or will we have to develop rotational artificial gravity to allow a soldering bath for the circuit boards to wash across? After watching How it's Made, I try to imagine each different activity in a weightless environment. Not impossible, just extremely different and an extremely different way of doing business."

    Yeah there will be an awful lot of industrial engineering challenges to remaster for the environment of space.

    As far as doing that sort of soldering, I'd guess that we won't be using a pool soldering bath but would rather use the same type of wiring machines already in use to solder the gold contacts that connect the CPU die to the package - they spray a tiny ribbon of molten metal, and that general principle should still work. Those even may need to be modified to make sure that pressure is being provided via something besides gravity, but the process should work well enough once they tinker around a bit.

    However, if a substance with an extremely high surface tension was discovered, we still may be able to use pool soldering, albeit with some design changes (a much much smaller amount of melted solder on the active surface than current machines have) to reflect that major change.

    What I am looking forward to more than anything else is the ability to use "precious" metals in industrial uses much more frequently than they are now due to cost. Imagine using silver instead of copper or aluminum for wiring, and to use gold on all surfaces prone to tin whiskers or corrosion whereas for now only the "premium" brands do so. Duracells with gold tips would be pretty impressive, and rechargable batteries could be much more potent and have less "memory" than they currently do. To be able to coat the piston sleeves of internal combustion engines with some of the same low friction, high strength alloys like those used on the engine nozzles for rockets - with elements most people have never seen in person.

    • 2 votes
    #2.3 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:17 PM EST

    "Not impossible, just extremely different..."

    And that's why you don't try to recreate the manufacturing infrastructure down here, unless there's an actual benefit, not merely because it's 'different.' 'Different' is almost always synonymous with 'harder,' in this context.

    Rare materials like Platinum Group Metals will be recovered first, because even as raw ore, if your transportation costs are low enough, they're of sufficient value to bring back here for conventional processing. (some say that more PGM from space would tend to reduce its value...but it's also possible that new applications will be found that were not cost-effective before, maintaining the demand.)

    Now, I understand that there's plenty of iron out there (Indeed, I strongly recommend 'The Iron Sky' by Richard S. Lewis, for an understanding of how asteroidal resources can be used), but there's still plenty down here, too. People in space will need finished products more than raw material, for quite some time...

    And that's not really new. Crude oil is rarely refined at the same place that it's found. Even those in oil-rich areas get gasoline that was refined elsewhere, and may or may not include that which came from the wells near them.

    And as someone who's done years of electronic assembly, I can tell you that chouse has a point. Gravity is very much an 'assumed' part of most manufacturing, or anything else. Some processes would be enhanced by its absence (and those are the one you pursue in space, if again transportation and other costs don't offset the advantages), but most require it.

    • 2 votes
    #2.4 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:28 PM EST

    Fair enough on all fronts. I am far from a rocket scientist, but I do try to think of these things as to the challenges that await us up in space...Cheers!

    :-)

    • 1 vote
    #2.5 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:54 PM EST

    @Frank, due to the expense of delta-V, I think that it would be ideal to do most of the refining in-situ for the bulk metals like iron and nickel - but yeah you're right that it may be just as easy to do the platinum group metals closer to home at first.

    I've always thought that the ideal method of setting up the infrastructure would be to put the initial refinery on Luna and you can easily "hard land" (decelerate it so that it will smack into the surface with minimum speed but no need to stop it completely) your vitrified ore blocks a ways away from the refinery and have robot forklifts retrieve them and dump them into the hopper.

    One of the major issues you avoid by doing that is that you are not bringing the undesirable heavy metals down to Earth - only the parts that you want, and the slag can be used to make tunnel sections for expansion of the attached support colony, or for paver tiles to lay around the base to reduce lunar dust impact.

    Later on (once you've sold some orders and are flush with cash), refining in place would be easiest - and of course you will encounter a lot of radionuclides if you're lucky, so you may even need to set up a nuclear fission reactor production facility - to power your following generation of refinery, transport and mining ships.

      #2.6 - Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:17 PM EST
      Reply

      This might not work out like they're thinking. The model of supply and demand assumes that supplies are finite. But when you extend you mining to asteroids to look for so-called rare earth metals, suddenly you find they are not so rare and the cost becomes more about discovery and extraction costs, and less about limited supplies. They might easily find themselves driving the value of many rare materials down, rather than up, making it more difficult to recover the sunk costs of extraterrestrial mining equipment.

      Either way, it's still pretty cool to see private interest in space is growing.

      • 3 votes
      Reply#3 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:46 PM EST

      I don't think any abundance of materials will reduce the overall costs in relation to earth supplies. It's like tar sands oil. It has always been there, but it wasn't until oil got expensive enough to make it worth extracting. It's still just as expensive to extract and process, but now there is a market for it.

      I am waiting for Exxon to send a tanker to Titan to mine the liquid methane lakes.

      • 3 votes
      #3.1 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:56 PM EST

      We may be addicted to oil, but sufficiently high costs also drive people to completely different alternatives that were also previously uneconomical.

      And, if you had the energy sources for such ships (which would have to be some form of nuclear)...you'd use those down here, instead of hydrocarbons.

      • 3 votes
      #3.2 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:10 PM EST

      Supply and demand still works. It always has, and always will. Great wealth is not usually built on selling expensive things, but lots and lots of cheap things. As rare earth metals come down in price, we will use more of them. The quantity demanded will increase if you will. New uses will be found for them. Our standard of living will rise.

      • 2 votes
      #3.3 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:58 AM EST

      I agree David9000-

      But isn't that what they said about oil? Now we are willing to accept the risks of fracking and Canadien 'dirty' sand...So far, I haven't seen the cost of oil drop yet...OR at least not the gasoline at the pump...

        #3.4 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:22 PM EST

        After writing my previous, I just noticed John Mack wrote essentially the same thing...Great minds, John...Cheers!

          #3.5 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:24 PM EST

          robtzu-

          I will add that if there is an abundance of rare Earth metals, the cost to manufacture products that require them 'could' go down so long as the ability to extract and exploit space-based rare-Earth metals is cheap enough. If the cost of iridium is outlandishly expensive, it will no matter to the consumer because no one on Earth can afford the product after that. There is an X-Y table that draws out the cost of Earth-based extraction cost/availability that interesects with Space-based extraction cost/availability that will be the tipping point that will make space-based a viable option.

          When Earth-based extraction costs/availability exceed the cost of Space-based extraction costs/availability THAT is when this new space economy will explode.

          Tired. I might have babbled a bit; I need another cup of coffee.

            #3.6 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:31 PM EST

            The money maker isn't in rare earth metals. It's in common materials that cost thousands of dollars to put into orbit. If you harvest and process it in space, you aren't paying the outlandish costs of getting it out of Earth's gravity. Forget about $5 a gallon for gasoline. Think about $5 a milliliter for water in space. That's where the profit will be. The other metals sent back to Earth will just be them making an extra buck off of the recycled leftovers.

            • 2 votes
            #3.7 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:16 PM EST

            Good point, Mitty-

            Water will be the ultimate commodity in space...Cheers!

            • 1 vote
            #3.8 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:35 PM EST

            Mitty, you assume the cost of getting into space will always be as high as today. Don't count too heavily on that.

            Indeed, space economic activity can only be enhanced by a lowering of launch costs. We are nowhere near the technological end of the line on that...it's only that further development of it is too 'boring' to those who want nothing more than to put boots down in another gravity well, ASAP, and think that that's all spacefaring is...

            • 2 votes
            #3.9 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:33 PM EST

            Frank, besides your standard run of the mill chemical rocket, I haven't seen anything exotic that will allow us to escape Earth's gravity. I am seeing promise with Great Britain's Skylon program but so far all I see is PowerPoint and some animation. Still it is just a chemical rocket with wings- granted the propulsion unit DOES allow for air-breathing operations to land like an oversized aircraft/spaceplane.

            But what can we do about unconventional lift? To loft oversized objects into space effortlessly or with left violence than your standard run of the mill chemical rocket?

            Space elevator isn't there yet. I like the concept but there needs more funds devoted to the R&D...

            Am I missing anything regarding what other options are there?

            • 1 vote
            #3.10 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:02 PM EST

            I must have been tired; I wrote 'left violence' instead of 'less violence'

            MY BAD!

            • 1 vote
            #3.11 - Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:10 PM EST

            "Am I missing anything regarding what other options are there?"

            Electrogravitics and similar concepts... which will require much more understanding of physics, but would be the ideal long term solution.

            You can't colonize the solar system if you're tossing away most of your vehicle just to get off a planet.

            • 1 vote
            #3.12 - Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:18 AM EST
            Reply

            hope to god this works, humanity needs it

            • 3 votes
            Reply#4 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:13 PM EST

            The only sure-fire way to make a technology profitable is to get the porn industry involved. Printing press, photography, and home video players to name a few. Why do you think the internet is free?

            • 1 vote
            Reply#5 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:22 PM EST

            Tell us how you get free internet .

            I have to pay for mine every month .

            • 5 votes
            #5.1 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:29 PM EST

            You aren't paying for the internet, you are paying for "access" to it. If you don't want to pay, you can always go to a place that offers free wifi.

            • 1 vote
            #5.2 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:37 PM EST

            So should everyone be going to where they offer free wifi ?

            Stop it .

              #5.3 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:41 PM EST

              Many municipalities are planning to offer free WAN wifi. And yes, they will do it to attract vistors, business, and residents.

              http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120924/BLOGS02/120929936/city-unveils-plan-for-free-wi-fi-wider-super-fast-internet

              or if you can't wait:

              http://www.wifi.com/how_anywhere.html

              • 1 vote
              #5.4 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:50 PM EST

              One, the city is seeking "heavily discounted or free" service, both for high-speed Internet and Wi-Fi. And the detailed list of public assets the city is prepared to leverage includes 4,000 miles of roadway, 2,000 miles of alleys, thousands of light poles and sewer lines. And the city makes it clear that its expenditure of $30 million a year on broadband may be linked to who helps with this project, and who doesn't.

              Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120924/BLOGS02/120929936/city-unveils-plan-for-free-wi-fi-wider-super-fast-internet#ixzz2IfabwAhv

              Thanks for those links but saying free may be a bit premature .

              Cheaper maybe , but for who ?

              • 3 votes
              #5.5 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:07 PM EST

              Well, its free for me. I have a 2-watt wireless router and a parabolic dish that can pick up any router with a mile. I stick to the fast-food places but its surprising how many people still dont encrypt their connection.

              • 2 votes
              #5.6 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:15 PM EST

              Actually, Detroit-Storm has a point-

              The only three industries that have actually made people's lifestyles easier is Space, Military, and Porn. One might argue the Medical Industry but that is an offshoot from the Military Industry. The Internet gained popularity first from the Military and then the Porn Industry adopted it and it exploded. Universities used the Internet with Medical and Physics (Primarily with the ability to share nuclear science back and forth) but it was for strategic Military interests. The same can be applied to the Space Industry. Get either the Military or Porn involved and you will see the technologies for Space get developed REAL FAST.

              Back in the 60s and 70s we were promised moon bases and interplanetary travel, flying cars, a solution to world hunger. Where is my flying car? Where is my instant food to help solve world hunger? Neither are here yet. Instead, I can get porn on my smartphone...NICE CONSOLATION PRIZE.

              :-\

              • 3 votes
              #5.7 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:15 PM EST

              Instead, I can get porn on my smartphone...NICE CONSOLATION PRIZE.

              My co-workers are looking at me funny, I'm laughing so hard!

              • 1 vote
              #5.8 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:20 PM EST
              Reply

              Wow! I'm delighted. I knew it would take private enterprise to get anything done. I'm also impressed that nobody so far has whined about "throwing money into space while people starve." Once again I want to point out that only a few thousand dollars worth of iron, plastic, silver, gold and a few other things will actually go into space. And a few intrepid people -- unless we really make progress on robot tech. The money will be spent here on Earth to pay the people who do the work, provide the supplies and services and provide food service, janitorial services and a whole range of other things. It will create a lot of jobs in a whole range of skills and will be an economic boost. Not to mention a wealth of taxes paid by all the workers and the company itself.

              Free enterprise made our country great and if we have any sense we will allow it to continue to do so. It is the rich who drive the economy, discovery and even charity. Making the rich give away their well earned assets would impoverish the whole country, probably in less than one generation. If they simply hoarded it in a vault in their attics then maybe they should give it up, but they invest it over and over so people like me can own a decent computer and my next door neighbor can own a car that cost more than my house. Where do we think the money comes from for our mortgages and cars? Not many of us can save enough to get them without a loan.

              • 2 votes
              Reply#6 - Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:41 PM EST

              "With each new prototype build, we’re learning a lot about how to strip cost out of the assembly, integration and test process, and that will be incredibly valuable when we start mass production of the units destined for space," Lewicki said.

              I can see a lot of people dieing by cutting costs, but on the bright side there will probably be so much space junk floating around that we probably will have to cancel any future space missions, thereby saving tons of money from the space programs, satellites, space telescopes, rovers etc. LOL!

                Reply#7 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:05 AM EST

                h8tparty, why would "a lot of people die by cutting costs"? The only thing that goes into space in this project is robots. The factory in which those robots are made has to obey the same safety laws as any other factory.

                And why would there be "so much space junk floating around"? They're talking about mining asteroids. No "space junk" that they produce in the process will come close enough to Earth to bean issue for satellites, space telescopes, etc.

                If you think that ending access to space will save money, be prepared to give up your GPS, cable television, and a lot of other stuff that depends on satellites for some part of its operation.

                The real issue I see with this is that it's being oversold. "Trillions of dollars" isn't going to happen any time soon. Just playing fun with numbers, to get a trillion dollars a year out of platinum sales they'd have sell about 40 times as much platinum as is sold every year now. If they do that then the bottom will drop out of the platinum market and their trillions of dollars go away. It's the same deal as the King of Spain bringing huge quantities of Aztec and Inca gold from the New World and wondering why with all that gold he's still broke.

                And I still don't see anybody doing anything to address the major cost driver for space operations. We're still throwing away millions of dollars worth of hardware on every launch.

                  Reply#8 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:39 AM EST

                  Can you imagine what the price of those minerals will be when they first arrive on Earth? Uh, let's see, that's 20 tons of unobtanium, but we had to bring it from space, so it will cost you three third world countries and six non-Muslim virgins. Oh, by the way, the cars this will be used to manufacture will cost the average purchaser about $72,000,000 each -- plus tax, title, license, prep, freight and dealer charges.

                    Reply#9 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:57 AM EST

                    One of the biggest obstacles today, in space, is the time it takes to get from here-to-there and then, back again. Just as with the earlier sailing ships and the voyage from the old to new world, we have to find a way to decrease the time required to go between Earth and planets/asteroids in order to make space work for us as a species.

                    As it stands right now, transit times... when added and multiplied for most any space venture beyond our moon, becomes a negative. In sum... we only live so long and most would want to see some solid returns on their investments in their lifetime.

                    Also to be factored in is just getting these dreams off the ground to begin with. One good example is how as the Apollo program was winding down, NASA was promising that Mars was just around the next bend. But... as each timeline for that journey approached, it was kicked back again and again over the line-of-sight horizon until here, now and today, those of us who were alive to see man walk on the moon, stand no chance of being alive if and when we ever send a man to the red planet.

                    We need courage and ingenuity in our space effort, especially in the private sector, as our government-based space agencies have now succumbed to politicians and bureaucrats that have all but gutted them out and hung them to dry.

                    We need determination and technology to move us into and then, through space faster or all this asteroid mining will be on the same slow boat that is taking us to Mars.

                    • 1 vote
                    Reply#10 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:06 AM EST
                    Comment author avatarLitterHaterExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

                    bringing materials to earth from space is a terrible and dangerous idea. If we weigh the earth down by bringing more trillions of tons of metals here the added weight will tip the axis and shift the poles leading to a new ice age and the sun will burn through the weakened ozone layer giving once healthy people like ellen degeneras cancers and then all of our cell phone signals will go out and we'll all die from solar flares that we're no longer protected from or the earth will sink like a loppsided frigate because it's been weighed down too heavily we must stop this nonsense before it is too late and we doom ourselves to dying from this greed and rampant materialism.

                      Reply#11 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:08 AM EST

                      Since I really cannot believe that there is anyone who would hold the opinion expressed above, the only other options are to read it as base-sarcasm from someone so arrogant as to assume that the rest of the world thinks that way... or the work of a troll who was looking for a pot to stir.

                      • 1 vote
                      #11.1 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:19 AM EST
                      Comment author avatarLitterHaterExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

                      okay genius if you're so much smarter than everyone else then explain to us how the earth will be able to handle the added weight that these materials will level on it without having its orbit, tides, poles, people, t.v.s, etc. effected? I did an experiment to prove this where i put a empty cup into mt bathtub that represented the earth floating around in space and then when i filled the cup with glue it sank right to the damn bottom of the bathtub becuase it wasn't designed to hold the excess weight which is exactly what will happpen to the earth and it will fall through the space if these idiots think that they can bring in these hundreds of trillions of tons of space-crap for no reason other then to make stupid money. go ahead hot-shot, explain that the rest of the world is wrong you goon.

                        #11.2 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:27 AM EST

                        Perhaps we should launch Rosie O'Donell and Oprah Winfrey into space. They can orbit and counteract both the weight and axis shift. We can use their platform and radiant heat energy to fuel other satellites.

                          #11.3 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:18 PM EST

                          LitterHater-

                          The Earth is bombarded by meteorites of varying sizes on a daily basis. It is already gaining mass and there is nothing we do (RIGHT NOW) to stop it.

                          Additionally, have you taken into account the numerous rockets and satellites that we have put into various orbits and all the space trash that are remnants from previous space missions that were 'trillions' of tons of metals that left the Earth? Okay perhaps 'trillions' is a bit over-exaggerated...But you get the gist of what I am saying right?

                          SOOOooo, perhaps you might want to reassess your concerns?

                          • 1 vote
                          #11.4 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:23 PM EST
                          Reply

                          Now if they can only fix all the potholes with these asteroids, then we have a viable enterprise.

                            Reply#12 - Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:10 PM EST

                            Will you holiday in space? Here is a Spaceship that can take you to any orbit in this solar system and mine Asteroids smaller than a car. Or produce rental income here at Earth while collecting SpaceJunk. These are spaceships not Star Ships unless Mars and Venus are stars. We don’t offer Aliens, Laser guns, BeemMeUpScotty or WarpSpeed, just APlaceInSpaceToPlay. Read more at www.LivingInSpace.org In 1904 an animation was published showing a rocket going to space and back. In 1961, the first man went to space and back. 50 years later, Tasha9503 plans to lift 213 people per launch and reuse the hardware that lifted them as infrastructure in Space.

                            In 2007, was put on the net to show the new shape of the HLV (rocket), where to position everything and what the infrastructure will be able to do. In 2009, it cost $20,000,000 to lift one satellite, Tasha9503 plans to lift 6 satellites per launch and charge $7,000,000 each. (2009 dollars) In 2009, was used to show what we will have when we use the new design for the rocket and attach 6 together. In 2009, was produced to create the ability to sell 85% of the infrastructure Tasha9503 puts in LEO to raise start-up costs, offering time and profit shares to those who invest the start-up expense. August 2012 the first PayPal payment was made. Rodney became the first person to use PayPal to buy in and own part of everything Tasha9503 builds in space with time and profit shares included. Each link is different but all on the topic of HotelsInSpace by Tasha9503. Here is one solution to the dinosaur incident. If you fear nuclear fallout. APlaceInSpaceToPlay

                            These HotelsInSpace are equipped to mine the asteroid belt and using the robotic arms, throw the nickel, copper, gold, etc. to any orbit in our solar system. They are also designed to be used as HotelsInSpace to produce profit shares for all the people who invest $25/week or more before our building the first of many spaceships, each able to collect SpaceJunk. Follow us at www.LivingInSpace.org

                            It took 50 years and here we are. In 1904 an animation was produced showing a rocket taking man to space and back. In 1961, the first man went to space and back. Fifty years later, Tasha9503 plans to lift 213 people per launch and reuse the hardware that lifted them as infrastructure in Space. In 1969 man went to the moon. In 1988 Trevor started looking for all the reasons why it is impossible to go the Asteroid Belt to mine, smelt and manufacture living accommodations on location. In 1995 the last of the needed technology was becoming old, used and proven true. In 2000 all the technology was found and designed into a facility that can be built with six launches. Trevor just used the technology available to reshape the Saturn V rocket, update the life support systems, lower everyone’s launch costs and still produce profits, putting the general public in space by the hundreds. In 2007, was used to show the new design for a reusable Heavy Lift Vehicle. In 2009, it cost $20,000,000 to lift one satellite, Tasha9503 plans to lift six satellites per launch and charge $7,000,000 each. (2009 dollars), saving everyone money. In 2010, was used to show everyone what we will have when we use the new design for the rocket hardware and attach 6 together when reaching orbital velocity. Interior decorating not included in the video. Cover all the walls with iPad technology.

                            In 2010, was produced to create the ability to sell 85% of the infrastructure Tasha9503 puts in LEO, offering time and profit shares to those who invest the start-up expense. In 2011, www.LivibgInSpace.org was added to open up communications. We put together a business plan. . We keep track of all contributors. Each link is different but all on the topic of HotelsInSpace by Tasha9503. To make the infrastructure affordable and profitable it was designed to be multi-functional. As launch vehicles, they can lift multiple satellites and a 213 passenger landing craft. As HotelsInSpace, each will sleep 216 people, lifting the needed food and water with each launch. For AwayMissions, each HotelsInSpace can grow enough food to feed 36 people indefinitely, so a 12 person crew can pass the Moon on a 9999 year AwayMission. For part of the sales pitch Tasha9503 is offering time and profit shares to those who invest, with every launch lifting one randomly chosen subscriber. The day we begin collecting rent we are no longer for sale and your percentage of ownership is registered.

                            The story goes on. Did you laugh at, or would you invest in: Mark Coni? for dreaming of the radio, most did. Alexander Bell? about the telephone? Christopher Columbus? Did he fall off the Earth? Henry Ford? Who needed a car? No roads anyway. Thomas Edison? The oil-less light bulb? Ben Franklyn? his kite strings. Jay Edger Hover? his dream of an electrical dam. The Wright Brothers? It will never fly Orville. Man was never meant to fly. Copernicus, the Earth, not in the centre of the universe? Forty years after, a paper published an apology to Robert Goddard and his rocket engine. All these men were laughed at. May I go on? Most people knew better and laughed at these dreamers, knowing it will NEVER happen. Edgar Alan Poe? Aristotle? Michel Angelo? Einstein? Samuel Morris? Leonard da Vinci? We laugh at the people who see what we cannot and attempt to lift us to new heights. We nailed one man to a cross for trying to teach us to love and help each other and stop cheating, steeling, lying and hurting each other. Do you laugh at the design Tasha9503 wants to use as HotelsInSpace or the man who designed it or the people who produced the technology needed to make spaceships reality? Would you raise the ceiling heights of the two floors? What changes would you make and why? The more you own the more you decide. We estimate an 8% return the first year, 16% then 24% the third year after we begin collecting rent.

                            Everyone told Trevor why it will take 50 years or it will never happen.

                            - 27,000 degree hot plasma, going right through you, boiling your blood – Radiation Hazards

                            - Bone and muscle degradation, body turns week – Physical Deterioration

                            - Lubrication, allowing spinning different sections of the spaceship - Wear and Breakdown

                            - Food supply, everyone must eat

                            - Profitability, people will not invest without the promise of a profitable return

                            - launch expense

                            - Atmospheric cleansing – Air Pollution

                            The list goes on.

                            - Meteoroids

                            - Personal conflicts

                            - Motion sickness - Carioles, Vertigo

                            - Repairs to the spaceship

                            - Energy Sources

                            - Clients, who will afford to rent HotelsInSpace at $1,000,000/week

                            - Who will invest in a ship to mine the Asteroid Belt?

                            - Health, doctors, medication, dead bodies, Human excrement.

                            - Time, too much time to travel from one planet to another; imagine time to travel to another star.

                            And one by one war, business, scientists and farmers developed all the technology to fulfil all the restrictions. Stories about all the needed tech was displayed on the Discovery Channel. David Suzuki, Jay Ingram and a few others with their many co-hosts brought the needed information together that solved all the stoppers, allowing humans to fly off this nest called Earth, without the need to land on another planet.

                            - Wiring, increases the mini magnetosphere to magnetically protect the inhabitants from solar plasma

                            - The PlasmaCore contains particle collider technology and does not spin but magnetically expels the collected plasma to produce thrust.

                            - spin parts of the infrastructure around the PlasmaCore to produce gyroscopic stability plus 6 different levels of artificial gravity using magnetic technology to attach the different pieces together, removing ware and for the ship and removing body degradation.

                            - lift food requirements for each guest with the guest when using the infrastructure as HotelsInSpace.

                            - grow food on board for AwayMissions.

                            - every six launches produces 1,278 Astronauts (SpaceTravelers) and another piece of infrastructure that can be rented out as HotelsInSpace with 72 units each to produce profits while collecting SpaceJunk.

                            - the price for every launch is shared between 200 people and six satellite payloads, every one saves money

                            - updated air scrubbers from submarines, scuba and the ISS with six independent gardens can be used to clean Air Pollution.

                            - motion sickness, Carioles and Vertigo are removed from concern by removing windows. When you want to look outside, look at a monitor that shows a view of the outside.

                            - a few large corporations buying large sections

                            - a few millionaires buying in to make profits

                            - a movie producer only needs to own 5% of Tasha9503 to drastically lower the cost to produce movies in space.

                            - a few 1000 people subscribing, buying time and profit shares at $25/week expecting a return of $180/week.

                            - nickel mining organizations decides to own between 10 and 50% to use a few spaceships to mine the Asteroid Belt, turning billions of dollars into trillions.

                            - a gold mining corporation decides to own more than 10% to begin mining the Asteroid Belt asap.

                            - staff of 24 to care for guests in the HotelsInSpace, fly the ship and collect SpaceJunk.

                            - 6 gardening sections with compost and potting soil preparation.

                            - I guess some organization will buy 51%, another organization will buy 13%, individual millionaires will collectively own 20%, 1% will be bought via a PayPal payment plan and Tasha9503 will keep 15%

                            - Spinning metal around metal produces magnetism. The design of Tasha9503’s spaceship means the spaceship becomes one big hollow bar magnet and a generator producing electricity.

                            - we have a 10 generation life expectancy increasing plan that may allow your great great great … grand children to live 300 years before reaching puberty.

                            - Meteoroids – To make these rockets 100% reusable, the rocket engines will be used as catcher’s mitts for capturing small meteoroids that cannot be evaded.

                            - being able to approach meteorites smaller than a car will allow us to use the 6 robotic arms to capture and mine the rocks to obtain the material to manufacture replacement parts as needed.

                            - With a civilization of fewer than 50 people, law is not required. The people will have enough to do to survive and the need of everyone else to all but eliminate social conflicts. When more than 50 people are gathered some people can work less to survive while other people work more. This causes strife, jealousy and conflict. These spaceships are made to feed 40 people and all must work at all jobs so every time a death occurs, every other member can fill in the void space.

                            Want me to go on? We have a 50 year plan and a 7 year plan to pay for the first spaceship we build. The 50 year plan is you tell two people and they tell two people... The seven year plan is you tell 1,000 people and they tell 1,000 people… using the internet. If you want us to build, now, tell 10,000 people, twice. (AdvertisingSpam) Should ten million people tell the governments to adopt this design for their rocket? Who paid for the ISS? Would you like to own a % of every spaceship still at earth? Should one million people invest $10,000 and each own a small percent at 12% return that you, your children and your GrandChildren could end up cashing in on? Should one organization own the whole thing?

                            Trevor found a way to get off this beautiful planet, mine the Asteroid belt, smelt and manufacture reproductions on location while studying the stars with Earth producing a bifocal view of the cosmos. To afford the start-up costs, Tasha9503is selling 85% of the infrastructure Tasha9503 puts in space. 1995 technology will mass produce these HotelsInSpace. We need 1,000,000 people (Trekies) to subscribe for seven years or we need 1000 millionaires to invest $7,488,000 each. We are selling the use of the units at $2,000,000 per week, allowing the owners to use their time again every year according to the number of spaceships at Earth. 52 weeks x 72 units x $2,000,000 = $7,488,000,000 start-up costs. If you own one day when we have the first spaceship in operation, you will own 10 days when we have 10 spaceships at Earth. Every time a spaceship passes the Moon, your days grow. We could build with one million people investing $25/week for seven years. 1,000,000 people x $25 x 52 weeks x 7 years = $9,100,000,000 start-up costs. $25/week will buy you time and profit shares with a subscription. Each launch after the seventh will lift one randomly chosen subscriber. (Lottery) Should anyone decide to own 51% of Tasha9503, that would be good. Then they could take every second spaceship we build and everyone else’s time and profit share will grow. This is one solution to the dinosaur incident. A journalist is needed to do a story about Tasha9503. A website developer is needed to extract information from three sites and build a site that sells these spaceships. Tasha9503 has a design for a spaceship that you, or anyone who invests, can use to take 12 people to the Asteroid Belt and with six robotic arms, mine all the asteroids smaller than a car, use what you can and throw the rest any ware. To make the mass production of these spaceships profitable, they can be used as HotelsInSpace with 72 units, each containing 1 single bed, 1 double bed, 1 bath and toiletry device, one table, two chairs and a sink. The spaceships include: six levels of artificial gravity, six restaurants, 6 individual ZeroGravity sections for -lounging areas. It only takes six launches to produce one spaceship. 85% of every spaceship Tash9503 builds is for sale so we can buy the land, change the laws, build the roads, factories and launch pad, pay the utilities, buy the raw material, rocket fuel and BlaBlaBla. The day Tasha9503 collects rent in a spaceship is the day we stop selling and begin paying time and profit shares. It will be like all banking transactions revers. 25% of all rental income will produce profit shares for all who invested prior to collecting rent. Should any organization purchase 25% or more, they may trade and take one spaceship as they like, every time we build four. Anyone who owns 10% of what we build can have the tenth and the twentieth… for their own. When Tasha9503 has ten HotelsInSpace producing profit shares our first AwayMission past the moon will happen. All planned trips to the Asteroid belt by Tasha9503 will last 9999 years so all the tools to build the equipment to build reproductions of the spaceships will be built into each launch. It took 50 years and now spaceships are available. In 1904 an animation was produced showing a rocket leaving Earth and coming back. In 1961 the first man went to space. It took 90 years. What came first, the Taser or the comic Tom Swift and the Electric Rifle? Remember the computers Bat Man used. All the technology to build what is seen on the YouTube video Tasha9503, shown at tasha9503.ca, tasha9503.com, and LivingInSpace.org is available today and these spaceships can be built with your $25 subscription. You can own up to 85% of every spaceship we build. A journalist will be reworded should a positive twist be written and our viewers increase. If you tell 2 and they tell 2, it will take another 50 years. If you tell 1000 and they tell 2, that will speed us up. If you tell 100,000 and they tell 100 each, you may be flying with us. Help us advertise by talking about Tasha9503. Dose Tasha9503 need you? We need the roads, factories and launch pad built. We need the scientists and engineers to put the final calculations into design. We need the raw material to be transported. We need all the information that the astronomers have collected. We need the manufacturing equipment built. We need the interior of the six ZeroGravity sections designed. Tasha9503 needs people to advertise by telling everyone about us. Tasha9503 needs to contract out the design and manufacturing of landing vehicles to companies like Boeing.

                            Tasha9503 designed a heavy lift launch rocket to lift a 213 passenger landing craft and six satellite payloads, attach to five other used rockets to become one spaceship that can attach to two other spaceships, end to end. Phase 2 wraps around this spaceship. We need journalists to publish stories about Tasha9503. Dose Tasha9503 need you? We need someone to design and build the 213 seat landing craft. We need people to tell other people about these spaceships. Remember, most people think it is still imposable. We need people to invest (Subscribe) $25/week so we can pay the bills. We need Millionaires to buy timeshares. Do we need you? The greatest thing about these spaceships is, I cannot afford to build the infrastructure on Earth to mass produce them. I can sell a little bit, to many people. I have to let you own a piece of this future. The few who can afford to produce them do not have to pay the whole bill. We could build if seventeen organizations each buy 5% of the infrastructure we put in space for approximately $375000000 each. We only need ten wealthy people, if one corporation wants 51%. If you only want to own a few hours and want others to own the rest, subscribe and tell everyone. If you want to own a week and want others to own the rest, buy in and tell everyone about us. If you want to own 10% and eventually trade-off for your own spaceship, you can. Your governments cannot mass produce profit producing infrastructure in space. Only private funds can do that. Trevor HM Cooper PuttingPeopleInSpace I need you to talk about what you just read. If you want to invest but not until you see many other people investing, just publish our story every ware and let other invest before you. We will still invite you until we start collecting rent.

                            Can Tasha9503 sell you up to 85% of every spaceship we build? You become one us, one of we.

                            Tasha9503 has a design for a spaceship that can take a 12 person crew to the Asteroid belt and mine all rocks smaller than a car.

                            To produce profit shares quickly the Saturn V rocket was reshaped so six used rockets can be attached, cleaned and renovated to be used as HotelsInSpace. Each HotelsInSpace can sleep 216 paying guests and includes 6 levels of artificial gravity, 6 ZeroGravity sections for science, sex, sports and games. One Zero gravity section for extracting and loading STUFF. The use of one ZeroGravity sections is still undecided.

                            We can sell you the use of one unit, that sleeps 3 that can be used every year for $2,000,000

                            By the time Tasha9503 has 10 in Earth’s orbit the one week will add up to probably 20 weeks or more every year.

                            We can sell you a subscription for $25/week.

                            In 1988, back when the dream of a spaceship was unobtainable, people laughed at Trevor for asking them why it is impossible to take a human crew to the Asteroid Belt to mine, smelt and manufacturing living accommodation on location. As they laughed, some said it will never happen and the rest said it will take another 50 years.

                            As they laughed, they told Trevor why it will never happen or why it will take 50 year. So he spent his time looking at the technology in every section of science to find solutions to their reasons.

                            In 1995 they were still laughing at the spaceship dream but the last of the needed technology was being developed in other studies.

                            People still laugh at the idea of these spaceships. They laughed when Trevor suggested spinning part of the spaceship to produce artificial gravity so we remove the bone and muscle degradation. Our bodies will stay strong when we only spend a few hours in the ZeroGravity section per day. We also include a section with artificial gravity twice that of here on Earth for those who want to build their bodies. They laughed because the spin would create Vertigo. They laughed when Trevor suggested that, with no windows, the eyes will never see the spin and so Vertigo will be a non-issue. They laughed at the idea of a spaceship with no windows. They laughed at the idea of attaching a lot of telescopic equipment to the non-spinning portion of the spaceship. With the telescopic equipment we will be able to study the stars and stardust in visible light, infrared, X-ray, radio, Gama, and all the other abilities the Astronomers have developed, sharing the studies with the people of Earth Vie Internet. We plan to make all the information available on all the interior walls vie iPad technologies.

                            They laughed at the inability to attach the pieces together and have them spinning differently. This will cause ware and the need for lubrication. Bearings, grease and oil will not work.

                            When Trevor suggested using magnetic levitation to attach the individual portions removing the wear and need for lubrication but still allowing us to spin different sections of the spaceship individually, they laughed at about the food supply. When Trevor showed them the gardens in the spaceship that can feed almost 40 people, they laughed at the poop problem. When Trevor showed them the section of the gardens that is used to prepare the poop for potting soil, they laughed about the solar radiation that passes through up to 3 feet of lead, killing the crew. Trevor asked them, did man walk on the Moon? Then Trevor showed them the wiring that makes each spaceship into a big hollow bar magnet. The magnetism will attract magnetic solar radiation and funnel it into the hollow core of the spaceship, around the humans and gardens. They laughed at the name PlasmaCore that we gave to the hollow core where the plasma is collected. They laugh about the temperature. Collecting who knows how much plasma at 27,000 degrees, could get a little hot. Then they laugh at the idea of using the same technology that the Hadron Collider uses to magnetically move one electron, to expel the collected plasma producing thrust.

                            Then they laughed at the cost. If it cost between 12 and 20 million to lift one little satellite, who will afford to lift 6 million pounds of infrastructure. When they heard that each launch will lift 6 satellites, they laughed. Who will be your clientele? Then they laughed at the idea of having the robotic arms spinning around the spaceship and releasing the satellites, slinging them into any orbit of our clients choice.

                            Then they laughed at the cost. You and I can’t afford that. Who is going to invest with no promise of a return? Then they laughed at the idea of using the first ten spaceships as HotelsInSpace that can sleep 216 guests, to repay all the investors. Who can afford it? With time and profit shares included.

                            Soon they began laughing at the idea of Tasha9503 buying several landing crafts from other companies. Each landing craft will lift 213 people per launch to help pay the launch costs.

                            Then they laughed at the numbers. The spaceship sleeps 216 guests but the landing vehicle only lifts 213 people. Are the extra beds for aliens? So I try to explain, the12 staff do not use any of the 216 guests beds, only 200 will be used the first week but not all customers will be staying a week. Some may stay two weeks or a month, maybe more. The first down flight may not land all 200 guests. If only 150 people land, then there is only sleeping for 166 new guests for next launch.

                            Then they laughed at the idea of having built into every staff room, medical and pharmaceutical equipment.

                            But as the majority were still laughing, people in the know started to take notice. All the reasons why we cannot move off Earth have disappeared.

                            The laughter goes on still today.

                            They laugh at the time it will take to travel. It takes too much time to travel from one planet to another; imagine how much time it will take to travel to another star.

                            Then they laugh at our life expectancy increasing plan. The generation that leaves Earth will reproduce at the age of 30. Their children reproduce at the age of 33. Their children reproduce at the age of 36. Their children reproduce at the age of 39. Their children reproduce at the age of 43. Their children reproduce at the age of 47. Their children reproduce at the age of 51. Their children reproduce at the age of 56. Their children reproduce at the age of 61. Their children reproduce at the age of 67. Their children reproduce at the age of 73. Their children reproduce at the age of 80. Each generation reproduces at the age their parents reproduces plus 10 %. This increase will be slow enough to allow the human genome to adjust to the living conditions and expectancy. Some of the people who were laughing a little less suggest we increase the reproduction age by 5%, not 10% to allow the DNA to adjust with more ease. Some people laugh at the idea that in a few generations the parents will have children that are 400 years old and have still not hit puberty.

                            Still other laughed at the air supply. When Trevor suggested using a copy of the air filters and conditioners they use in submarines and in the ISS they laughed and told Trevor they are removed and repaired and cleaned more than once a year. They also laughed at the idea of collecting water ice from the asteroids or Rings of Saturn and using the oxygen found there. They began laughing less at the idea of having telescopic equipment that far from Earth looking at the stars with Earth producing bifocal vision.

                            Then, as people started to understand that these spaceships, designed by Tasha9503, are feasible and actually possible to mass produce, they started to laugh at the company name, Tasha9503. It sounds like a joke. They also began laughing at the person who put all the technology together.

                            What are TrevorHMCooper’s qualifications? Why does he think he can do what the greatest minds on Earth can’t? Trevor reminds them that when Thomas Edison was being ridiculed for wasting his time with his dream of the oil less light, he was reported to reply, I have not failed. I have found 10,000 ways that it will not work. They still laughed at Thomas even after his first few lights were burning. Where were people going to get the electricity to run their light? Thomas spent his time hiding from public view as he did his studies and experiments in secret. Remember Benjamin Franklin? He was the fool that tied a key to a kite string and flew it in a thunder storm. The greater the mind, the louder the laughter. It makes Trevor proud that he is one who is doing what people laugh at. They laughed at the fool who suggested that the Earth goes around the sun. Everyone knew the sun went around the Earth. Remember Walter Disney? He went bankrupt 6 times, once after each of his first 6 movies. Alexander Graham Bell was also laughed at for trying to build the flying machine. And when the very first telephone conversation was taking place between building, people were laughing at him for wasting his time. Who would ever want to talk on a telephone?

                            Trevor’s qualifications? Trevor spent several years building a successful business, after spending several years trying to build unsuccessful businesses. Trevor spent years searching the answers to the question, “Why can we not move to the Asteroid belt to mine, smelt and manufacture living accommodations on location. Trevor was the first to put all the technology together in the proper assortment to work for the dream of life off Earth. Trevor never planned to land on another planet or moon. Trevor wants to fly around the Asteroid Belt, from one rock to then next, mining all the way. If we land on a planet we will be trapped there as we are trapped here on Earth. If we can survive within a spaceship for 5 years or 50 years, why get out and die of solar radiation? When at the Asteroid Belt we can share our studies of the stars with Earth and it will be like having a bifocal view. When we have three at the Asteroid belt and one at the Rings of Saturn, it will be like widening our bifocal view by 20 AU (AU= average distance between the Sun and the Earth) our study of the cosmos will improve drastically.

                            They laughed at the crayon drawings Posted on the internet that explained the design alterations.

                            When the people who laughed saw that these spaceships are a real possibility and the only reason they are not being built now is financial, they began to laugh at Trevor instead of the spaceship. Trevor did not spend years in collage learning rocket science, so how could he know what he is talking about? However, Trevor would prefer to pay someone who did do the schooling. Remember, up until 1995, this was impossible, so why would Trevor school himself to learn only a small portion of the needed technology? They laugh at Trevor because he did not spend years in university learning about rocket fuels so he cannot know what he is talking about. Again Trevor would rather pay someone who did spend the years in schools. Some laugh at Trevor because he did not go to school to learn Biology, so how can he design a place to quickly turn poop into potting soil? Trevor tells them there are other people doing that. He just needs money to buy the technology from them. Remember, the dream of a spaceship only became possible in 1995 and few know that yet.

                            They laugh at Trevor because he cannot afford to build these rockets.

                            They laughed at Trevor now, not the spaceship, because they are beginning to understand how it works. Some people now laugh at Trevor because he published on the net the design and how to build these spaceships to make them work. They laugh because now anyone with money can steal the design. Trevor agrees with this laughter because they are correct. Anyone can steal the design. If Trevor dies before Tasha9503 gets a running start, he made it possible so that someone can steal the idea and help life evolve past the moon, without him. Trevor could die in an automobile accident any day. Trevor does not want the answer to their questions lost. So he published the design. Laugh as they do. Trevor also published the design to help sell it to the world. Now that even you can see how these spaceships work you can be convinced to invest as little as $25/week.

                            Those who want to wait may have to wait 20 years until Trevor dies before they can steal the plans. Hopefully, by the time Trevor dies, Tasha9503 will be in full motion. In August of 2012 the first PayPal purchase was made. Once we get the next ten subscribers, it will not be long before Tasha9503 can afford quality media promotions. The next 100 subscribers will be close behind, then having an advertising budget. Once we get about 50 subscribers, people with big money will see that HotelsInSpace will be a financially profitable investment and with time shares included, this is literally the best thing going. Tash9503 will be the best thing that happened to world economy since... Around that time, mining corporations, hotel chains and movie producers will begin to invest seeing the profit potential. Tasha9503 invites all hotels chains to buy in and own part of the HotelsInSpace. Still people laugh, because Trevor can’t afford to build on his own. People laugh when told that Tasha9053 only needs 1,000,000 people investing $25/week. One million people.

                            Many people laugh at the idea of selling the spaceships like condominiums. They laugh because if any company or individual buys 10%, they can take the 10th and own it all with no time or profit shares in the first nine. Then they have their own spaceship bought and paid for and everyone else’s time and profit share will increase. They laugh because if some organization buys 51 % they can trade and take every second spaceship produced. Then some laugh because if they only own enough to produce a profit share of $100 per month, as soon as someone trades for a spaceship, everyone else’s shares go up. So your $100 monthly share will soon double, then triple and so on.

                            If you only own 1% and Tasha9503 builds 100 spaceships you can trade your time and profit shares for your own spaceship. Tasha9503 must sell 85% of what they put in space to raise start-up funds. So when they build 50 spaceships; 10 will be orbiting Earth as HotelsInSpace, producing profit shares, 5 of them will be mining the Asteroid belt and studying the stars, 35 spaceships will be traded off for ownership and only the owners can decide where they take them.

                            People laugh at Trevor because he did not study the sciences needed to build spaceships. They are correct. When Trevor started this project, spaceships were impossible. All Trevor studied was why they were impossible. People laughed at his questions as they gave their answers. They did not know that their answers gave Trevor more to study, like the radiation problem, the vertigo problem, the food problem, the lubrication problem, the breathable air and food problem and on and on. They still laugh at Trevor because instead of studying all the workings of all the individual technologies, he just studied how to make them all work together. Trevor designed this ship from the works of others. In the 40’s people were figuring out rocket engines. In the 60’s people were figuring out launch codes. There are people today, people with money, figuring out better fuel mixtures, rocket engine shapes, fuel per pound ratios and all the other technologies needed. Trevor wants all the walls covered with iPad technology but instead of developing it himself, Trevor would rather pay for the technology and design it in.

                            People laugh at me because I am asking one million people to invest $25/week for 7 years so that I can build HotelsInSpace. A million people, is not that many people, about 0.00012% of the total number of people on Earth. They laugh after seeing the math when told we do not need a million people investing $25/week because every time someone invests $2,000,000 to buy a one week per year stay at the HotelsInSpace, we need 219 less people investing the $25/week. If we find 3500 people to invest $2,000,000 each, we don’t need anyone investing the $25/week. They laugh because they can be repaid from the rent we collect. Who will Tasha9503 rent to? Who will pay $1,000,000 to float around in space for a week? Who are all the customers that need satellites launched? The people who laughed are starting to realize that $1,000,000 rents a unit but the unit sleeps three. They now figure that if three people share the rent, it is only $333,333.33 each. Suddenly three times as many people can afford to rent. Once we have five spaceships orbiting Earth, we may have vacancies but by then the $25 weekly investment will be showing returns of $90/week. Tasha9503 plans to have ten HotelsInSpace orbiting Earth collecting rent and paying out profit shares and collecting SpaceJunk so the weekly return will be $180/week. People laugh at such a small return, forgetting that the $25/week for 7 years is only $9,100 investment. If the return averages $100/week, the initial investment is paid back in less than three years and the profit shares keep rolling in, every time another customer pays rent. Perhaps for three generations.

                            Then people started to laugh at the landing craft lifting 213 people. Why only 213 people when the hotel sleep 216 guests? Three beds for aliens? We tell them 200 seats are for paying customers at $100,000 per seat. That $20,000,000 will help supplement launch costs and feed the guests. 12 seats are for staff and 1 seat is a lottery draw. Then they laugh some more at the word lottery. What lottery? So we tell them, every PayPal purchase of the spaceships we build is considered a lottery ticket. Every launch we will pick a name from all the people who invested via PayPal and offer them a free week in the spaceship they helped pay for, with a second and third runner up for next launch. We must assume not everyone who invests the $25/week will be willing to blast off with us. Some people won’t fly some won’t get on a boat. All they invested for is the financial returns that they can spend and their children can spend. They can sell the seat for whatever they can get or give it away.

                            But people still laugh.

                            And every time someone laughs, Trevor feels more proud, remembering all the people from our history that were laughed at, like Goddard, the Write Brothers, Christopher Cockerell and so many more. Drawings that Da Vinci drew were taken from paper to hardware 400 years after he died, only to find that they worked as planned by Leonard. Not all his drawing worked. Da Vinci feared theft so he left out parts of the drawings and added extra parts so people could not steal his ideas. Leonard Da Vinci was laughed at for a lot of his thinking. He dreamed of flying and everyone knew that man will never fly.

                            But don’t get me wrong, people who do not understand how these spaceships work still laugh loudly. People who are looking at the plans and drawings and text found on our sites are figuring it out and are laughing less. Some are laughing at the fact that they did not figure it out first.

                            Do you laugh at Trevor or with Trevor?

                            Will you holiday in space with Tasha9503?

                              Reply#14 - Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:14 PM EST
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