KickTraq

Planetary Resources says it can't follow through on a $1.5 million Kickstarter campaign for space selfies, and will offer full refunds to backers. (Read More)

SEATTLE, WA - In addition to funding news this week for Seattle-area outfits Seattle BioMed, Rover.com, Tipbit, Illumagear, and ComputeNext, we got word of a Kickstarter milestone, more funding for drug developer Kineta, and a potentially big week for Lively. Next week, we’re expecting a final decision on new city regulations on the likes of Uber, Sidecar, and Lyft. (Read More)

Some organizations have turned to crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to make their space dreams a reality. (Read More)

For some people, Instagram just doesn't cut it. The photo-sharing social network is notorious for "selfies" -- photos taken of oneself, usually with a cellphone at arm's length, often in front of well-known backgrounds like the Eiffel Tower. (Read More)

Planetary Resources surpassed their $1 million Kickstarter crowdfunding goal by over $500,000 in an attempt to launch a space telescope. (Read More)

The world could soon have its first crowd-funded space telescope, with Planetary Resources announcing the success of its Kickstarter campaign to raise $US1.5 million for its Arkyd 100 satellite. (Read More)

Through the popular crowd-funding site Kickstarter, space prospecting company Planetary Resources was able to raise over $1 million to build and launch Arkyd – a publicly accessible orbiting telescope. (Read More)

Planetary Resources surpassed its $1 million crowdfunding goal June 19, green-lighting the asteroid-mining company’s plans to deploy a publicly accessible space telescope in 2015. (Read More)

The ARKYD Space Telescope which crowdfunded an amazing $325,000 on their first day, has closed their crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter with well over their initial $1,000,000 target. (Read More)

LIVE NOW » http://www.planetaryresources.com/livestream Come CELEBRATE with us + Bill Nye, liquid nitrogen and a Dunk Tank.  There will be big announcements every half hour, and good use will be made of the Oatmeal’s TESLA CANNON for every... (Read More)

We prepare for the grand finale!Only 55 hours remain in our ARKYD campaign. Join us for our live-streamed finale event at the Simonyi Space Gallery at the Museum of Flight in Seattle with Bill Nye (the Science Guy). What better way to close a... (Read More)

Planetary Resources, a company aimed at developing the technology to mine asteroids, announced a new goal to its wildly successful Kickstarter campaign that, should the campaign reach $1.7 million, would allow individuals everywhere to help spot potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs). (Read More)

Unless you’re heavily into your actual science stuff, you might be quite unaware of a remarkable Kickstarter project that’s going on right now. ARKYD is a proposed planet orbiting space telescope that would be publicly controlled; as in a gadget in the inky blackness of space that you have a say in what it does. It can even take pictures for you. If the mere idea of that wasn’t enough to make you think ‘I’ll throw a dollar that way!’, then know this: if you pledge $99, you’ll get a free copy of Planetary Annihilation and an exclusive ‘Planetary Commander’ avatar. (Read More)

Asteroid Zoo Stretch Goal: Aid in Planetary DefenseToday we call on our backers to aid in the defense of our planet! If we can reach US$1.7 million in these final three days, we will partner with Zooniverse to create Asteroid Zoo, a program to allow... (Read More)

Visitors to Leicester could be given the chance to search for aliens via a telescope in outer space if a $2 million campaign to send a public telescope into orbit succeeds. (Read More)

Yesterday, Rainn Wilson proclaimed himself Intergalatic Skylord and Corn Dog Lover, with an onslaught of probing questions and wild accusations of asteroid theft and alien invasions: He also built the ARKYD! As a thank you and early reward to our... (Read More)

Remember to hangout today with Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute, The Office) and Planetary Resources’ Peter Diamandis as they discuss asteroid homesteading, plans for cosmic domination, and how to build the ARKYD during your coffee break. Link will go... (Read More)

Just six days remain to reach our $2,000,000 goal and enhance ARKYD with exoplanet detection capabilities. If we can make it, we think YOU should NAME the first alien planet ARKYD observes. What shall it be? Dagobah or Romulus? Or perhaps Asgard or... (Read More)

Planetary Resources' Kickstarter goals for their ARKYD space telescope have been reached, a goal of a hefty $1 million. The project saw 11,000 backers, and should launch into orbit in 2015. (Read More)

The Kickstarter project of Planetary Resources has come out to be an inspiring success. While the same was announced with nine days yet to go, some $1 million has already been raised by it. (Read More)

I caught up with Chris Lewicki, the company’s CEO in Seattle, with some specific questions about how Planetary Resources’ new model of hybrid crowdsourcing and crowfunding of the ARKYD project was going, and where it’s headed from here. (Read More)

Planetary Resources, the billionaire-backed asteroid mining company, has raised more than $1 million on Kickstarter to build a proposed space telescope that will be accessible by members of the public. The campaign has more than 12,000 backers and 10 days to raise even more money for the Arkyd, an exploratory telescope that is part of the fleet that will help Planetary Resources hunt for near-Earth asteroids. (Read More)

Instagram with video? That's old news. How about taking a picture of yourself in orbit, with the entire Earth as your backdrop? That will be possible in the next few years, now that the Arkyd Space Telescope has met the $1 million goal on Kickstarter that it announced last month. The Arkyd is the brainchild of Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company launched last year with backing from a handful of Google and Microsoft billionaires. (Read More)

We passed our $1M campaign funding goal today and are now on the way to our $2M stretch goal of searching for Alien Planets. Thanks to you, we WILL build ARKYD - The first publicly accessible space telescope! From Peoria, Illinois to Xinhui, China,... (Read More)

Thanks to you, Leo at Twit.tv and The Oatmeal, we’ve done it! Many exciting announcements to make: New $1.5M Mystery Stretch Goal Revealed!When we reach $1.5 Million in pledges, every selfie pledge or higher will receive an exclusive digital... (Read More)

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. (Read More)

Have you ever dreamt of exploring space on your own terms? There are countless nebulae, galaxies, and planets out there just waiting to be discovered; space is truly the final frontier. Planetary Resources, a startup asteroid mining company, took to Kickstarter to raise $1 million in the hopes of bringing your dreams to life. With their funds, Planetary Resources will build the ARKYD telescope: a space telescope accessible to the public. (Read More)

Kevin Lee is pulling out all the stops to support our Kickstarter campaign: recruiting friends and family to support the educational cause. Chief Asteroid Miner Chris Lewicki had a Google+ Hangout with Kevin a couple of days ago to listen to his... (Read More)

WHO WANTS to come into space with me? Thanks to Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform, that is not a rhetorical question. I’m backing the Arkyd project, which is seeking $1m to launch a small space telescope into orbit. It has already raised more than $890,000, putting it on course to be fully-funded by its deadline on 30 June. If it hits its target, some time in August 2015 I will upload a digital photo to the Arkyd’s screen, where my image will hang against the backdrop of space as the moment is photographed for posterity. (Read More)

What do these people have in common? They love ARKYD and they’ve told us so. Check out the sound bites from a few of our supporters from around the world: We're blown away by the submissions to our photo and video contest. From the artistic... (Read More)

Since yesterday, we’ve: Announced our epic Stretch Goal of searching for alien planets,  Launched our Science and Education Video Contest to bring the ARKYD to more schools,  Kicked off a T-Shirt Contest with Freelancer for a fourth option to the... (Read More)

Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company, has recently reported that the Kickstarter campaign aimed at developing a satellite for common use is running better than expected. It is, therefore, that the firm has been planning to upgrade the satellite into an alien-finder. (Read More)

In May, asteroid mining firm Planetary Resources announced its crowdfunding campaign for one of its Arkyd 100 telescope satellites that backers would be allowed to use for a bit of private space exploration. Having reached over US$860,000 of its $1 million goal on Wednesday, Planetary Resources is upping the ante by offering to upgrade the satellite for exoplanet hunting if pledges reach $2 million before the campaign ends on May 30. (Read More)

Planetary Resources, a company best known for its plans to mine asteroids, is launching an expanded crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter. (Read More)

The asteroid mining venture has added another wrinkle to its project to crowd-fund a high-powered Arkyd space telescope to hunt for near-Earth objects. (Read More)

That’s right. We’re totally doing it... IF we can hit our ultimate stretch goal of US$2 million, we’ll be able to enhance ARKYD’s stability systems and dedicate time to monitoring candidate star systems for transiting exoplanets. With... (Read More)

Education that inspires our youth today will fuel discoveries and continued prosperity tomorrow. It’s what will produce our future asteroid miners. That’s why a huge part of the ARKYD campaign is focused on getting orbital space telescope time... (Read More)

Planetary Resources recently launched a campaign on Kickstarter for the ARKYD – the world’s first crowdfunded space telescope accessible to the public. In only 13 days, the company has already reached well over 85 percent of its original US$1 million goal. Today, the company is announcing that if the total amount pledged exceeds US$2 million in the 19 days remaining in the campaign, it will invest the additional funds to enhance the ARKYD space telescope technology to enable it to search for alien planets! (Read More)

Alien planets are out there and Planetary Resources needs your help to find them! That’s right, the same high-powered telescope technology being used by Planetary Resources to identify near-Earth asteroids can also be used to hunt for what scientists call extrasolar planets or “exoplanets” – which are very much alien worlds. For the first-time ever, this capability will be placed directly into the hands of students, researchers and citizen scientists. (Read More)

A pair of private-space items: First, SpaceX is continuing tests on its new Falcon 9-R rocket with upgraded Merlin 1D engines. (Read More)

As we approach our campaign goal at the one million mark, we are gearing up to announce one of the most audacious stretch goals on Kickstarter. If we reach our primary goal by Monday, we’ll announce enhancements that will open the ARKYD to new... (Read More)

At the launch of our Kickstarter, Brent Spiner pledged $5,000 to become an Education Ambassador, providing access to the ARKYD space telescope at his son’s school. Today Rod Roddenberry (son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry) shares why he... (Read More)

Our most popular pledge levels have been those involving Space Selfies. Because this has never been done before, we need to be especially careful to get it right the first time. You’ve surely seen selfies with bad lighting that are difficult to see... (Read More)

A privately owned asteroid mining firm, backed in part by Google's founders, has launched a crowd-funding project to gauge public interest in a small space telescope that could serve as a backdrop for personal photographs, officials said. (Read More)

We're thrilled at the support this project has received, and we're really impressed with the enthusiasm of our community. We want to reward you guys by giving you the opportunity to win some really cool prizes.  All you have to do to enter is post a... (Read More)

We’re halfway there!  The show of support you guys have shown us has been phenomenal. We’re at $562,000 just two days into this campaign.  Your support is helping us to open the space frontier and expand our search for answers. As Jason Silva... (Read More)

A Kickstarter project from space exploration company Planetary Resources aims to create the world's first crowd-funded, and publically accessible, space telescope. (Read More)

Planetary Resources has already developed several of its own satellites, known as the ARKYD series, which the company intends to deploy both in Earth orbit and further out in the solar system. And the company has already attracted a significant amount of capital for its plans to capture near-Earth asteroids and bring them back into orbit for mining - a project that is projected by some to cost in the billions of dollars. The Kickstarter campaign is instead intended to give the public the opportunity to get involved in the company's mission, as well as for researchers to take advantage of the new technologies being deployed with these satellites. (Read More)

Planetary Resources has what they call “the most audacious mission ever“, one that has caught the attention of Star Trek royalty such as Robert Picardo and Brent Spiner. It’s the task of finding the natural resources that will sustain the planet for future generations: the 9,000 asteroids in near-Earth orbit, known as Near Earth Objects, or Near Earth Asteroids, to be precise. The company’s goal is to develop and deploy “low cost commercial robotic spacecraft” to mine these resources (relatively) close to the Earth for precious metals. (Read More)

Video Update From Chris: http://youtu.be/b_27Y1Pn3rM We're absolutely blown away by your support and enthusiasm for this mission. We have received hundreds of messages, so it will take us a little while to respond to them.  In less than 48 hours,... (Read More)

The Planetary Resources asteroid-mining venture raised more than $300,000 on the first day of a million-dollar crowdfunding campaign that would let supporters use the company's space telescope to make astronomical discoveries — or just take "space selfies." (Read More)

Planetary resources wants to raise $1 million on Kickstarter by June 30 to get its first Arkyd telescope into space in 2015. (Read More)

A private company that plans to mine asteroids unveiled a new venture today (May 29), an ambitious plan to launch the world's first crowdfunded telescope. The company, Planetary Resources, is developing a suite of spacecraft, dubbed Arkyd, to study solar-system asteroids as a precursor to mining missions. Now, the firm has launched a crowdfunding campaign to make an Arkyd available for the public's use. (Read More)

Planetary Resources, Inc.—the company that wants to mine asteroids—has a new project they've just announced: They're crowdfunding a space telescope. Yup, you read that right. PRI has a Kickstarter page set up to fund a small (20 cm, or 8”) telescope that will orbit the Earth. It will take pictures... (Read More)