{"id":18737,"date":"2017-11-14T00:39:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T16:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/planetary-resources-arkyd-6-prototype-imaging-satellite-has-left-the-building\/"},"modified":"2017-11-14T00:39:24","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T16:39:24","slug":"planetary-resources-arkyd-6-prototype-imaging-satellite-has-left-the-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/planetary-resources-arkyd-6-prototype-imaging-satellite-has-left-the-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Planetary Resources\u2019 Arkyd-6 prototype imaging satellite has left the building"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_376791\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-376791\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-376791\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/171113-arkyd-630x324.jpg\" alt=\"Arkyd-6 preparations\" width=\"630\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/171113-arkyd-630x324.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/171113-arkyd-768x395.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/171113-arkyd-1260x649.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/171113-arkyd.jpg 1746w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-376791\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers prepare Planetary Resources\u2019 Arkyd-6 technology demonstrator satellite for shipment at the company\u2019s headquarters in Redmond, Wash. (Planetary Resources via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Planetary Resources has been working on its Arkyd-6 imaging satellite for years, and today the company reported that the printer-sized spacecraft has finally begun its journey to an Indian launch pad.<\/p>\n<p>Arkyd-6 is considered a technology trailblazer for the asteroid-observing probes that Planetary Resources plans to build at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s first demonstrator satellite, the Arkyd-3R, was deployed from the International Space Station\u2019s Kibo airlock in 2015. The Arkyd-6 is twice as big, and is expected to provide Earth imagery in the midwave infrared slice of the electromagnetic spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>Infrared imaging will eventually come in handy for observing near-Earth asteroids and determining which are the richest potential targets for robotic mining operations. Water ice is the primary target, at least for the early going, since H<sub>2<\/sub>O can be turned into hydrogen rocket fuel as well as breathable oxygen and drinkable water for space travelers.<\/p>\n<p>Planetary Resources\u2019 president and CEO, Chris Lewicki, has said the first steps in the company\u2019s asteroid prospecting campaign could well be taken by 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Arkyd-6 represents one small step toward that goal. How small? Roughly 4 by 8 by 12 inches, in accordance with what\u2019s known as the 6U Cubesat standard.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Packaging Arkyd-6 for Delivery to the Launch Vehicle\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w_bhKJl_GHo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A video clip shows the satellite undergoing final assembly, protective packing, and placement into a carry-on suitcase that\u2019s rolled out to a waiting automobile (with someone dressed up in an Arkyd-6 costume standing beside the car door).<\/p>\n<p>The camera follows the car as it drives over the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge to Seattle, where the satellite was presumably handed off to Spaceflight Industries. Spaceflight is handling payload processing for Arkyd-6\u2019s launch as a secondary payload on India\u2019s PSLV-C40 space mission.<\/p>\n<p>The PSLV rocket is due to lift off from India\u2019s Satish Dhawan Space Center to put the Cartosat-2ER imaging satellite and more than two dozen smaller spacecraft into orbit.<\/p>\n<p>This won\u2019t be the last we hear from Planetary Resources\u2019 newly delivered baby.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the weeks leading up to launch day, we\u2019ll be sharing with you information on the Arkyd-6, its mission and the team who built it \u2013 so be on the lookout!\u201d Planetary Resources says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Workers prepare Planetary Resources\u2019 Arkyd-6 technology demonstrator satellite for shipment at the company\u2019s headquarters in Redmond, Wash. (Planetary Resources via YouTube) Planetary Resources has been working on its Arkyd-6 imaging satellite for years, and today the company reported that the printer-sized spacecraft has finally begun its journey to an Indian launch pad. Arkyd-6 is considered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5301,4365,4927,1519,4820,20],"class_list":["post-18737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-arkyd","tag-asteroid","tag-asteroid-mining","tag-asteroids","tag-planetary-resources","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}