Asteroid Initiatives LLC Offering 'Sponsorship Opportunities' For Solar Scout CubeSat Explorer

Asteroid Initiatives LLC is asking for the public's help in developing its Solar Scout CubeSat Explorer, which will lower the cost of asteroid prospecting by applying revolutionary advances in microsatellite technology in deep space.

"If you want to do asteroid mining, you first have to do asteroid prospecting, because we really have no idea what's inside any given Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)," said Asteroid Initiatives CEO and founder Marshall Eubanks. "No one has ever explored the prime candidates for asteroid mining - asteroids a few hundred feet in diameter or smaller. We intend to unlock the economic potential of NEAs using the technology developed for CubeSats, FemtoLanders, and solar sails. To complete the initial design of the Solar Scout we are seeking $65,000 in crowd funding immediately, and a total of five million dollars to launch and operate the first Solar Scout mission, and are also actively seeking collaborations with university groups and private industry for the development of FemtoLander asteroid sensors." Eubanks continued.

The Solar Scout will combine the best features of the NASA NEA Scout, a 6-U CubeSat spacecraft with a solar sail for propulsion, and FemtoLanders, credit-card sized femtospacecraft that can blanket a target asteroid with a wide variety of sensors.

Charles Radley, the Chief Engineering Officer for Asteroid Initiatives, explained that "with FemtoLanders, each Solar Scout will contain dozens of probes, each really a separate spacecraft to be released as needed to better understand a target asteroid."

A crowdfunding campaign has been established on RocketHub in an effort to raise money needed for the program.

"We are pleased to be able off a wide array of sponsorship opportunities including, for the first time, FemtoLander spacecraft sponsorships for $1000, allowing for ordinary individuals, groups and clubs to have their name or logo engraved on their own interplanetary spacecraft," Radley continued.

FMI: www.asteroidinitiatives.com