Rumor: Mining asteroids to save the world?

Confirmed: U.S.-based Deep Space Industries has announced that it is building a team skilled to turn raw asteroids into valuable products. The company unveiled plans to fly a series of satellites in 2015 on two- to six-month missions, with plans to launch larger aircraft for round trips to collect material a year later, the Guardian reported.

Turning dead rocks into resources?

Deep Space says on its website that it plans to serve in-space markets first, where fuel and materials shipped up from Earth are exceedingly costly. According to Deep Space, a MicroGravity Foundry will be used to transform asteroid ore into complex metal parts with 3D printing.

"From the dawn of civilization we have mined our living world for all we need," Deep Space says on its site. "Now we can apply that knowledge to dead rocks floating in space." According to Deep Space, harvesting space resources will help save the world. The company says that along with air, water and propellant, there are asteroids with more gold and platinum than the human race has used in its entire history.

Deep Space's plans come less than a year after another U.S. Company, Planetary Resources (backed by filmmaker James Cameron and Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt), announced plans to harvest minerals and metals from passing asteroids.

Reality or Science Fiction?

Deep Space missions will explore the solar system to find new resources. Its founders include Rick Tumlinson, who led the team that took over the Mir Space Station as the world's first commercial space facility. 

Scientists and engineers told the Guardian that "mining asteroids was feasible but unlikely to make commercial sense for several decades."

Deep Space is currently looking for investors.

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