A new space start-up company being backed by execs from Google is offering supporters a chance to wow their friends with a photo opportunity that\u2019s quite literally out of this world.<\/p>\n
\n Planetary Resources of Bellevue, Washington launched a
\n crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter this week in order to bring
\n in the money necessary to launch ARKYD, an orbiting telescope
\n that will take custom photos for those willing to open up their
\n wallets.\n <\/p>\n
The company got off the ground last year and previously announced
\n plans to capture asteroids flying through space with hopes of
\n mining the rocks for precious metals and water \u2013 that\u2019s why the
\n telescopes were originally designed. Now Planetary Resources is
\n exploring other endeavors, and wants to bring the public a
\n telescope project that can do more than just mine for minerals in
\n space.\n <\/p>\n
“All we are asking is for the public to tell us that they want
\n something<\/i>,” company co-founder Eric Anderson said during a
\n press conference on Wednesday, Reuters reported.\n <\/p>\n
“We’re not going to spend our time and resources to do
\n something if people don’t want it and really the only way to
\n prove that it’s something people want is to ask them for
\n money<\/i>,” he said.\n <\/p>\n
The company hopes to raise one million dollars by the end of
\n June, and is providing donors with an unusual incentive: for $25,
\n a support is sent an image of their choice taken miles above the
\n Earth.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cAt its core, the ARKYD is a space telescope. The large, main
\n optic is designed to take high-resolution photos of objects in
\n space. What truly sets it apart is that we\u2019ve engineered the
\n spacecraft with an external screen and a camera arm, allowing us
\n to take pictures of the ARKYD as it orbits Earth<\/i>,\u201d explains
\n the company.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cYour photo (or graphic!) will be displayed on the satellite\u2019s
\n external screen overlooking Earth. We will then take a picture
\n from our camera arm and send the image back to you<\/i>.\u201d
\n
\u00a0
\n
Planetary Resources is calling the option a \u201cSpace Selfie,\u201d and
\n thousands of people have already forked over the money to make it
\n happen.\n <\/p>\n
“I want to see a selfie in space<\/i>,” Planetary Resources\u2019
\n president and chief engineer, Chris Lewicki, said during a
\n Wednesday press conference.\n <\/p>\n
That\u2019s just what $25 will earn a donor though. Other options
\n include having a video displayed on the telescope\u2019s screen or
\n supplying schools with exclusive time to peer into space using
\n the satellite\u2019s lenses.\n <\/p>\n
“If we’re successful, we’ll go off and create the material we
\n need to do this public activity and make it happen<\/i>,” Lewicki
\n added to NBC News.\n <\/p>\n
Two hours after the project went public on Wednesday, Project
\n Resources received more than $100,000 in donations. Twenty-four
\n hours later, the telescope was just short of the halfway point to
\n raising its one
\n
million dollar goal.\n <\/p>\n
“[W]e had an extraordinary response …. Tens of thousands of
\n people contacted us and wanted to be involved<\/i>,” founder Peter
\n Diamandis said. “We are using this Kickstarter campaign as a
\n mechanism to engage the
\n
community in a productive way<\/i>.”\n <\/p>\n
The company hopes to launch their first ARKYD, a 33-pound
\n satellite with a 2-foot wingspan, in the later half of 2015.
\n Planetary Resources is backed by investments courtesy of Google
\n CEO Larry Page, Chairman
\n
Eric Schmidt and director James Cameron.\n<\/p>\n