There are many companies trying to get in on the - yet to be profitable - private space industry. One I particularly like is Planetary Resources. I first read about the company in January on Space.com. They have a fairly practical approach to getting their feet wet, or in the vacuum, by sending small satellites to investigate and, eventually, lasso and harvest asteroids. Their theory is that by providing ready to use natural resources, such as fuel, to communications satellites and eventually water and metals to astronauts and construction projects, they will not only be the first to potentially make money on their venture, but will also enable other companies to step up their own timetables.
Harvesting resources on site is key to keeping costs low in the space industry; it is simply too expensive to send all the materials humans need to explore into orbit. I am glad there are private citizens and companies (Google is backing PR) taking the initiative to expand the reach of humanity into the stars. History teaches us many lessons, not the least of them being: people go where there is money to be made. I for one hope there is a lot of money to be made in space!
Here is their latest article on Space.com
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