Startup eyes mining asteroids for space colonies (with video)

It could be the plot of a science fiction movie. In fact, add in something about saving the Earth and it is: travel through space to rendezvous with an asteroid, land and starting drilling into it. But that's exactly what a small group of scientists at Deep Space Industries are trying to do.

From a nondescript office on the edge of the Ames Research Park in Silicon Valley, the company is plotting a futuristic scheme to locate asteroids, check them out and then send in mining spacecraft to strip them of their minerals. The goal: enable the even-more futuristic ambition of cities in space.

"The future that we see in 20 or 30 years, is that we want to be supplying people who are building in space. Cities with thousands of people living in them," said Daniel Faber, CEO of Deep Space Industries. "And to get to that stage, you need a massive amount of material."

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here