Kick starter for Planetary resources space telscope

[ScienceRocks]

Planetary Resources Space Telescope for the People by 2015 is over 14% of its fund raising goal after 7 hours

Planetary Resources Space Telescope for the People by 2015 is over 14% of its fund raising goal after 7 hours
The Planetary Resources kickstarter has been open for less than five seven hours and has already raised over $100,000$142,000 (or 10%14% of the goal)

The goals that we want to achieve with this Kickstarter mission are four-fold:

* To give students access to space capabilities — Whether studying planets in a 5th grade class or writing a graduate thesis, students of all ages will have the ability to direct the telescope and explore what interests them! We’re planning some exciting new educational opportunities just

 

[ScienceRocks]

Here it is

ARKYD: A Space Telescope for Everyone by Planetary Resources ? Kickstarter

Help get a telescope up through crowd sourcing!!!

 

[ScienceRocks]

Introducing: The ARKYD — [ahrk-kid]


The ARKYD is a technologically advanced, orbiting space telescope that will be controlled by YOU, the crowd, through your pledges and community involvement! You can even direct your telescope time to non-profit science centers and universities for use in your communities!

Just think about the true impact of this endeavor for a moment. Together we can provide access to technology that costs tens of millions of dollars into the hands of students, scientists and a new generation of explorers, who will use it in ways we can’t even fathom yet!

At Planetary Resources, our primary focus is mining asteroids, and we’re pushing the boundaries of what is possible by vertically integrating and applying innovations from consumer-based industries. It’s our goal to reduce the cost of space observatories many times over, allowing anyone to access them for their own use. We want to empower the crowd to solve the big problems of our time — and this is the first step to making that a reality.

Our primary mission is to develop low-cost robotic spacecraft to explore and mine resource-rich asteroids within our reach. The first step to making this possible is the launching a fleet of ARKYD spacecraft to identify asteroids that are ripe for further exploration. This same capability has numerous other potential applications in education and research. The goals that we want to achieve with this Kickstarter mission are four-fold:
•To give students access to space capabilities — Whether studying planets in a 5th grade class or writing a graduate thesis, students of all ages will have the ability to direct the telescope and explore what interests them! We’re planning some exciting new educational opportunities just for K-12 educational programs.
•To support important research and discovery — There are thousands of institutions and researchers in need for greater access to in-orbit space observatories. The ARKYD will provide a new, low-cost resource to help observe distant galaxies, search for alien planets, and monitor the skies for potentially dangerous asteroids. Researchers at MIT, the University of Washington, and across the globe have shown interest in using the ARKYD to further their important research.
•To build excitement about space and all of its potential — The ARKYD is designed to be a fun and interactive experience that is accessible to anyone. This kind of direct access to a satellite is unprecedented. Our backers will be the first people in history to control a public space telescope!
•To give YOU a say — What makes this mission unique is that we’re putting control of the telescope in YOUR hands. You’ll get the opportunity to help decide which science centers and museums are the beneficiaries of ARKYD telescope time, what photos to take, and more. We’re putting YOU in control! By pledging toward this mission, you’ll receive access to our website and mobile apps allowing you to follow along with the progress of the satellite, sneak peaks at photos and videos, and get voting access to make your voice heard in the future direction of the satellite!

 

[ScienceRocks]

This is pure capitalism. So I expect space lovers that are conservative to take part.

 

[ScienceRocks]

LunarSail, bringing real space exploration to the masses | RocketHub

Your chance to support a solar sail too!!! Let's take part in grass roots capitalism of space!

LunarSail is designed to use a solar sail to propel a small spacecraft from Earth orbit onto a lunar orbit rendezvous trajectory and execute orbital insertion around the Moon.

LunarSail is an effort to demonstrate the ability of a spacecraft under solar sail propulsion to navigate itself into a lunar trajectory and insert itself into Lunar orbit. A primary objective of the LunarSail mission is to serve as a testbed for cubesat operations beyond low Earth orbit and applications requiring cislunar or interplanetary rendezvous. It is a proposed cubesat mission intended to demonstrate practical application of solar sail technology for propulsion, trajectory/attitude control and rendezvous with another body in space. With LunarSail, we will take advantage of the cubesat platform to conduct a first of its kind mission to use a solar sail to send a spacecraft to the Moon and then utilize the sail’s unique characteristics to navigate into lunar orbit.

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Update on the project in the OP...65% the way there.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1458134548/arkyd-a-space-telescope-for-everyone-0?ref=live

 

[Glensather]

Ooh, not really a big fan of solar sails. The concept seems too flimsy to keep up with solar winds.
That said, I just donated to the kickstarter. Feels good man.

 

[ScienceRocks]

ARKYD: A Space Telescope for Everyone by Planetary Resources ? Kickstarter

891,000

They added other goals

US $1.3 Million – Downlink Boost: Planetary Resources will build a second ground station to double the rate of #SpaceSelfie and Astronomy data return and install this ground station at the site of an education partner.

US $2.0 Million – Alien Planets: We will add exoplanet detection capability to the ARKYD by enhancing the space telescope’s stability systems and dedicating time to monitoring candidate star systems.

Let's advance science!!!!