Centives has previously reported on a group of billionaires who have chosen to use their money to mine asteroids rather than form a secret society with a tacky name such as “League of Evil” which plans to take over the world. (Although comic books haven’t totally misled us – these individuals are at least a little evil.) Matt Smith writes that now they have competition:

• Deep Space Industries wants to send a fleet of “fireflies” to prospect asteroids for minerals, and then later send “dragonflies” to mine them and return to earth.
• Scientists point out that this is unlikely to be cost effective since it costs billions of dollars to bring a few grams of matter back to earth – and gold prices haven’t become that high yet.
• Deep Space Industries responds that by piggy-backing off other space launches, they’ll cut down on the cost of fuel and make things more cost-effective.
• Ultimately the hope is to pioneer technology that could let humans set up a permanent base in space – and mine materials from the surrounding systems to sustain themselves.

Read more about the effort over here.

Source: CNN