Planetary Resources

Planetary Resources is looking to play a role in the development of an economy that is based in space. The company was founded in 2010 by Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis, in Redmond, Washington, United States.

A primary target for acquiring natural resources, for Planetary Resources, is on asteroids. The company believes water from asteroids will be utilized to fuel the in-space economy and habitation as water can now serve as a form of rocket fuel and as a natural consumable commodity.

The company has been acquired by ConsenSys, which is a blockchain company that made the move to acquire Planetary Resources after finding the company was suffering funding problems. The space expertise and capabilities that Planetary Resources offers would be integrated directly into ConsenSys' ecosystem to help promote their Ethereum-based projects. They look to use deep space capabilities to help for a rule system that is automated and refers to smart contracts.

Planetary Resources developed a line of cubesats, with the first one to launch successfully being the Arkyd-3R, and then the Arkyd-6. The Arkyd-6 provides mid-wave infrared imaging.