Another NEAP Friends mailing.
Comments: Authenticated sender is <jim@mail.spaceinc.com>
From: "Jim Benson" <Jim@SpaceDev.Com>
Organization: SpaceDev, Inc.
To: super@SpaceDev.Com
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 12:43:24 -1000
Subject: Boston Globe article...
Reply-to: Jim@SpaceDev.Com
Priority: normal
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Greetings Friends of NEAP,
I apologize for two mailings in a row, but I thought you might be
interested in the following article which ran in full color on the front
page of the Boston Globe "Science" section yesterday (Monday).
This article is good because it explains our rationale for NOT being
interested in asteroid mining and explains why we are intending to fly a
science missions.
Sincerely,
Jim Benson
Staking a claim
Entrepreneur making plans to parlay science into a space age gold rush
By David L. Chandler, Globe Staff, 06/08/98
ALBUQUERQUE - He's convinced there's gold in them thar hills - and
platinum and a host of other precious metals as well. Never mind that the
"hills" are mountains of rock and metal hurtling through space. James
Benson, a successful entrepreneur from Colorado, is determined to stake
his claim.
Benson intends to be the first person to claim ownership of a celestial
object, in this case an asteroid, and eventually to mine whatever kind of
precious nuggets it holds.
He says any asteroid a mile or more in diameter - and there are hundreds
of them - "contains natural resources that, if found on Earth, would have
a value of more than a trillion dollars."
But that's a big "if." Right now nobody has the faintest idea how to go
about mining an asteroid or bringing the minerals to Earth in an
economically feasible way. Benson looked into it seriously, hoping to do
just that, but decided that would have to wait for later. For now, he's
got a different plan.
Benson, who was trained as a geologist but ended up making a small fortune
in the computer business, has studied the possibility of mining asteroids,
the moon, or Mars, or of establishing other businesses (such as lunar
tourist hotels) far from Earth. He concluded that while all of these ideas
will someday be feasible, none is yet within reach of a start-up business.
Instead, he decided to focus first on gathering and selling scientific
data - a market he says is worth $1 billion a year - and staking his claim
to an asteroid that he could mine when the time is right.
So how does the world of science react to all this? With curiosity,
excitement, disbelief, and occasionally anger, as evidenced by an
unusually heated panel discussion during a recent space conference, "Space
'98," in Albuquerque. Some can't wait to sign up. Others are aghast at the
audacity of his high-flying claim-jumping.
"My visceral reaction was 'heavens forbid, not on your life'," said
Eleanor Helin, a NASA astronomer who has discovered literally hundreds of
asteroids - including one that Benson is considering as a target.
Helin, who in the Albuquerque discussion bristled at Benson's plans to
declare ownership of an asteroid, said "there would be some hesitation if
somebody was not only going out and landing on your asteroidal body, but
exploiting it - bringing it around [closer to Earth] or munching it up on
the spot."
There is no law that says Benson can't stake a claim to a potential gold
mine in space. Under an international treaty, nations forego the right to
lay claim to any celestial body, but the treaty says nothing about
individuals or corporations - probably because at the time the treaty was
drafted, in the 1970s, private space ventures weren't considered a serious
possibility.
One international lawyers' group hopes to clear up the issue by filing a
class-action lawsuit. Declan O'Donnell, a leader of the lawyers' group,
said the questions on ownership rights in space "could keep a fleet of
lawyers going forever."
Benson, however, has no intention of waiting for the legal process to run
its course. He will make the claim and see what happens.
Benson is not the only businessman hoping to turn a profit from deep
space. (Near-Earth space, on the other hand, is already a thriving
business location; communications and observation satellites have been
making billions for years). At least two companies plan to send
privately-financed missions to collect moon rocks and sell them at
auction; others have ideas for tourist hotels in space, or lunar rovers
that could be remote-controlled from Earth for a fee in a kind of
real-life videogame.
But Benson, who says his publicly-traded company has already attracted all
but about $6 to $8 million of the less-than-$50 million estimated cost of
the first mission (not counting the launch itself), appears to be furthest
along.
NASA has given the mission its nod of approval: It qualifies as part of
the agency's "Discovery" program, which could provide funding to
scientists who propose experiments for the mission, if they pass a
scientific peer-review process. And Benson says customers are lining up.
"The private sector can do things less expensively than government," says
Benson, who made enough money to retire in comfort after founding and
selling three computer services businesses. He says he currently owns more
than half of SpaceDev's stock.
So far, it looks like he may be right about the potential for cost savings
in privately-financed science missions. Seven scientists have already
notified NASA of their interest in placing their experiments onboard the
spacecraft SpaceDev plans to launch late in 2000.
"We're flying a bus, selling rides to scientists," Benson said in a recent
interview.
He says he will charge scientists $15 million for the privilege of using
space on the craft - "one third of what the government is charging" for
similar missions. The mission, called the Near-Earth Asteroid Prospector,
would go into orbit around an asteroid and also send four small
penetrating probes to gather data from on, near, or even inside it.
But this week, his company is asking a panel of scientists, led by former
Mars Pathfinder project manager Tony Spear, to evaluate an alternative
candidate: Nereus, an asteroid discovered by Helin, that is about a
half-mile across. It is thought to be made mostly of carbon-containing
compounds and water.
While much attention has focused on precious metals, Benson says, plain
old water may turn out to be the most valuable material for space miners.
Anything sent into orbit from Earth costs at least $5,000 a pound, and
water could be a crucial resource for future space ventures, not only to
supply the needs of astronauts and space tourists, but also to split into
hydrogen and oxygen to make rocket fuel.
Only three asteroids have ever been photographed from close range in
space, and those pictures were made during quick flyby missions. So
scientists are eager to get their hands on the kind of data that Benson's
mission would provide.
Only one other current mission is targeted to spend time close to an
asteroid, collecting pictures and data over a long period: NASA's NEAR
mission (for Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) will meet up with the large
asteroid Eros next Jan. 10. But because asteroids are so varied - some
made of pure metal, some of rock, and some mixed - scientists would like
to sample several.
If and when Benson's mission flies, "I want to send a camera along," said
Peter Smith, an astronomer at the University of Arizona who designed the
camera for last year's Mars Pathfinder mission. "What's gotten me excited
is that "50 years from now, there will be a tremendous commercialization
of space - tourism, trips to other planets, and so on. But here's a group
that wants to start now."
Smith is one of the scientists who have notified NASA that they intend to
propose experiments for Benson's NEAP mission. Under rules passed last
year by Congress, the agency is required to make use of commercial
opportunities in space transportation whenever they are available, as long
as it can be done for less cost than a government-financed mission.
As Benson sees it, it's a potential win-win situation: NASA gets data for
the scientists it supports, for far less money than if it ran the mission
itself. And Benson gets to turn a profit and launch his new business.
Moreover, he adds, it's a low-risk venture. NASA would pay for the data
with grants to the scientists whose proposals are accepted, but only after
the mission succeeds. If it doesn't succeed, SpaceDev's investment would
be recovered, because the mission will be fully insured.
Even Helin, despite her reservations about the prospect of seeing one of
the asteroids she discovered get "munched up," is cautiously supportive of
the concept.
"When I step back," she said last week, "I say, 'what will this gain us;
is there science to be gained?"'
Benson's initial plan, which calls for nothing more than the gathering of
data, "doesn't bother me," she said. "I wish him well."
Smith finds the whole process not only exciting, but a refreshing change
of pace from the NASA bureacracy, with its internal politics and
infighting, that he has spent so much time dealing with.
"He's got a lot of clever ideas," Smith said about Benson in an interview
last week.
While there are still many hurdles for this kind of venture to overcome,
Smith said, if Benson can rack up "one or two successes, it could really
snowball. It could always fail, but if it succeeds, it could be a really
terrific thing."
And even if it doesn't work for Benson, Smith suggested, privately
financed space ventures are inevitable. "If he doesn't do it, somebody
else will. "
This story ran on page C01 of the Boston Globe on 06/08/98. c Copyright
1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
SpaceDev - NEAP (Near Earth Asteroid Prospector)
-o- Commercial Space Exploration & Development of Space Resources -o-
spacedev.com -o- Info@SpaceDev.Com
|
