{"id":19702,"date":"2013-05-29T17:34:56","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T09:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/kickstarter-campaign-for-public-space-telescope-reaches-100k-in-2-hours\/"},"modified":"2013-05-29T17:34:56","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T09:34:56","slug":"kickstarter-campaign-for-public-space-telescope-reaches-100k-in-2-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/kickstarter-campaign-for-public-space-telescope-reaches-100k-in-2-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"Kickstarter campaign for public space telescope reaches $100K in 2 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From left: Vlogger Hank Green, Planetary Resources founders Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis, and Planetary President Chris Lewicki announce the company\u2019s Kickstarter campaign at the Museum of Flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Planetary Resources, the Bellevue-based asteroid-mining company, today launched a $1 million Kickstarter campaign for the world\u2019s first crowdfunded, public use space telescope.<\/p>\n

Naturally, you may wonder why a startup that\u2019s backed by some of the biggest names in technology is asking the public for money.<\/p>\n

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Planetary Resources co-founder Peter Diamandis interviews next to an Arkyd-100.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But at today\u2019s press conference at the Museum of Flight announcing the campaign, the company\u2019s executive team stressed the differences between Planetary\u2019s business of mining, detecting and prospecting asteroids with what the Kickstarter campaign is attempting to accomplish: gauging public interest in a first-of-its-kind telescope like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not asking the public to contribute to asteroid mining \u2014 that\u2019s our business,\u201d said Planetary co-founder Eric Andersen. \u201cAll we ask for the public is to tell us that they want something. We are willing to do all the design, engineering work and we\u2019ve put that on the table. But we\u2019re not going to build something that people don\u2019t want. The only way to prove that it\u2019s something people want is to ask for money and set a value on things.<\/p>\n

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Planetary\u2019s Kickstarter reached $100K in less than two hours.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Andersen brought up Microsoft, saying that \u201d even they don\u2019t give away things for free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a business, too,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are trying to show that space is a business and an interest in space is a business. Rest assured our contributions to this campaign far exceed any amount that can ever be raised on Kickstarter. This is just a small part of that and we want to prove that the public is interested. If we do that, we are going to do amazing things together.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, it certainly looks like people have at least a little bit of interest. <\/span>The Kickstarter campaign launched at 10 a.m. PST and by noon, more than $100,000 had been raised.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andersen was joined by his co-founder Peter Diamandis, Planetary Chief Asteroid Miner Chris Lewicki and Vlogger Hank Green today as the quartet discussed Planetary\u2019s plan to put space exploration in the hands of, well, anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not your typical educational program like a math lesson or history lesson,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThese are the things that can literally change the course of a young person\u2019s life. This is the thing they look back on 20 years from now and say, \u2018Gosh, I decided to get involved in technology or space or science because I had the chance to be a real space explorer for a day.\u201d<\/p>\n