Asteroid Initiatives LLC Intends to Dramatically Lower the Price of Asteroid Prospecting

Asteroid Initiatives LLC, the asteroid prospecting company, today launched its first crowdfunding effort, as part of its plan to bring the spacecraft miniaturization revolution to deep space, and become the first company to directly prospect asteroid for material resources. The current Asteroid Initiatives crowdfunding campaign seeks a total of $65,000 and will last for the remainder of the month. End Quote

Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV (1888PressRelease) September 10, 2014 - Asteroid Initiatives LLC today asked for the public's help in developing its Solar ScoutTM CubeSat Explorer, which will lower the cost of asteroid prospecting by applying revolutionary advances in microsatellite technology in deep space.

"If you want to do asteroid mining, you first have to do asteroid prospecting, because we really have no idea what's inside any given Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)," said Asteroid Initiatives CEO and founder Marshall Eubanks. "No one has ever explored the prime candidates for asteroid mining - asteroids a few hundred feet in diameter or smaller. We intend to unlock the economic potential of NEAs using the technology developed for CubeSats, FemtoLanders, and solar sails. To complete the initial design of the Solar Scout we are seeking $65,000 in crowd funding immediately, and a total of five million dollars to launch and operate the first Solar Scout mission, and are also actively seeking collaborations with university groups and private industry for the development of FemtoLander asteroid sensors." Eubanks continued.

The Solar Scout will combine the best features of the NASA NEA Scout, a 6-U CubeSat spacecraft with a solar sail for propulsion, and FemtoLandersTM, credit-card sized femtospacecraft that can blanket a target asteroid with a wide variety of sensors.

Charles Radley, the Chief Engineering Officer for Asteroid Initiatives, explained that "with FemtoLanders, each Solar Scout will contain dozens of probes, each really a separate spacecraft to be released as needed to better understand a target asteroid."

"We are pleased to be able off a wide array of sponsorship opportunities including, for the first time, FemtoLander spacecraft sponsorships for $1000, allowing for ordinary individuals, groups and clubs to have their name or logo engraved on their own interplanetary spacecraft," Radley continued.

About Asteroid Initiatives
Asteroid Initiatives LLC, the asteroid prospecting company, will use the power of spacecraft miniaturization to unlock the potential of economic resources in deep space.

http://www.asteroidinitiatives.com

###

Visit Asteroid Initiatives Llc Website

space