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Technology Stocks : SpaceDev: Mine Asteroids -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ploni who wrote (27)	5/15/1998 1:16:00 PM
From: Bill J. Landis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65

I have no idea what the financing deal was, but I was shocked to find out that my order at 1 7/8 got filled!! I put it in about a week ago when the stock was close to 2 1/2 and expected it to just sit there forevermore. Here is some info that Brian Carlson asked me to post here since he doesn't having posting priviledges anymore. -- BJL Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 16:40:07 -0700 From: Brian Carlson <brian@nwrain.com> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.01 [en] (Win95; I) To: Bill Landis <ae954@tcnet.org> Subject: Re: SpaceDev, NEAP, etc ... Hey Bill, What's going on? Have you noticed the excessive volume of Shares of SPDV traded the last couple of days? Today 33,600 shares traded and another 25,000 yesterday. The price has been dropping, but alot of people are buying in at this lower price. Just wondered if you had any insight on this? As far as my research, I've been reading alot on the topic of mining lately. I'm currently finishing up Mining the Sky by John Lewis. And my biggest concern/question about Spacedev's ability to make an insane profit. Is whether or not they can profitabily bring the materials they mine back down to Earth. At this point, none of the sources I've read can give definative proof one way or the other. If they can't, which is very highly possible, then there minerals must be utilized solely in space technologies, such as Solar Powered Satellites (SPSs) or for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) communication satellite construction. These LEO satellites are the kind that Teledesic (Affliated with Bill Gates and Microsoft) is in the process of launching in order to provide internet connections 2000 times faster than current phone modems, video conferencing, and digital, high quality cellular phone connections. So the point of all of this is that Teledesic plans to launch 288 of these satellites. It will cost them $10,000 per kilogram to send these up. It would be far cheaper for them to build them up there with asteroidal materials, given the enormus per kilogram cost to launch them from Earth. But my concern with this is that Spacedev will be heavily dependent on the fact that there has to be someone set up to buy and manufacture satellites with this material in some sort of space station industrial park. Until that sort of operation becomes closer to its inception, Spacedev may not have a market to sell their materials to. Satellites, such as those Teledesic will use, are only one example of how these resources from asteroids can be used in space technologies. But since there are half a dozen or more companies who plan to do EXACTLY what Teledesic is doing, it would make this sort of endeavour very, very profitable- we're talking about well over a thousand satellites! But the problem is that those satellites are already being built and plan to be operational by 2002 or earlier. Spacedev will not be in position to be mining yet. So the way I see it right now Spacedev has to be able to do one of several things: 1. Find a way to import the materials it mines to Earth profitabily- highly unlikely. 2. Find a way to sell the materials in space for manufacturing of satellites and other space technologies in the near future- this will be dependent on someone having a manufacturing operation set up in space- Highly, highly profitable and very likely, but the question is how far in the future will this happen? The promising thing about Spacedev is given the nature of their endeavour they will be able to make money in more ways than just selling the materials they mine. As they have already proven (with the letters of intent from university's and agencies willing to pay for their scientific instrumentsto ride aboard NEAP) they will make a profit from just selling the scientific knowlege they obtain from there mission, not to mention the advertising money!!! Later, Brian Carlson PS -Bill could you please post this message on SI? I think it might help facilitate a good discussion.

To: Ploni who wrote (27)	5/18/1998 12:46:00 PM
From: Bill J. Landis	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 65

Here's a little blurb from the NEAP Friends list that briefly addresses the financing ... still doesn't say much of substance though. --BJL From: "Jim Benson" <Jim@SpaceDev.Com> Organization: SpaceDev, Inc. To: neapfriends@SpaceDev.Com Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 17:57:21 -0500 Subject: Recent SpaceDev announcement Reply-to: Jim@SpaceDev.Com Priority: normal X-Info: Upon problems with NEAPfriends, use admin@spacedev.com Greetings, Well, last saw our shortfall in action, based in part on inexperience. But, it was a powerful learning experience, and a mistake that will not happen again. What happened: While we were pleased to announce last week that an investment banking firm had agreed to raise about $900,000 for SpaceDev, we did not get the word out in sufficient depth and breadth. Apparently, some thought the raising of that money would flood the market with new stock, thereby increasing supply but not demand. It appears that some began selling as a result of that mistaken belief. We should have better educated more people that it is our understanding that most of the placement will be going into microcap funds and very little will make it to the market in the near future. We are working with the Carl Thompson agency (CTA) to better educate those following SpaceDev about the positive aspects of this fund raise and what it means for progress. In calling around, I found that not many knew about our important and substantive acquisition of Integrated Space Systems and their excellent track record of growth. Last year ISS sales were about $1.8 million, and we will soon be releasing news of first quarter 1998 performance. Arthur Andersen has completed the audit of ISS for last year, and those financials should soon be available from CTA. People have told me they believe SPDV is now undervalued by the market, and we intend to work hard to regain our position relative to last week's performance. We are even more determined to try to qualify for NASDAQ Small Cap market this year, which could give SpaceDev higher trading volume and a broader base of support and more price stability. After the current fund raise, we intend to become a "reporting" company with the SEC, which is one of the criteria for qualifying for the NASDAQ listing. Thank you for your interest in and support of SpaceDev and its goals! Sincerely, Jim Benson Chairman, CEO SpaceDev - NEAP (Near Earth Asteroid Prospector) Stock trading symbol: SPDV -o- Commercial Space Exploration & Development of Space Resources -o- spacedev.com -o- Info@SpaceDev.Com