Mining Magazine August 2016 | Page 14

TECHNOLOGY
A vision shared “ There is a possibility that we could actually replace mining on earth with space mining one day ,” says Meagan Crawford , of Deep Space Industries .
Deep Space Industries ( DSI ) is a Huston based company that specialises in building and operating cutting edge spacecraft . The company develops technology solutions for government , scientific and commercial customers .
DSI has 14 founding fathers , some of the top scientists and space craft engineers in the world . They are chaired by Mr John Lewis , one of the most well-known space industry advocates in the world , author of Asteroid Mining 101 , the man who ‘ literally wrote the book ’ on asteroid mining .
In 2014 these 14 founders were in attendance at a conference on space programs and asteroid mining and discovered they all shared a vision of how best to turn these ideas into reality .
“ They sat down together and decided that the only way to make this happen was to make a company . So they did .” she adds .
Water : the secret to success The business plan of DSI is to act as a supply chain to governments and
businesses that operate in space .
“ We are a mining and technology company but our primary purpose is to get the right supplies to the right place at the right time . We will supply space businesses with what they need to be successful ,” explains Meagan .
One of the primary supplies that DSI will provide is water .
When broken down into its constituents , hydrogen and oxygen , water can be used as rocket fuel – essential to any space mission . A large communications space craft will usually have a life span of around 15-20 years , with one of the main
14 August 2016