{"id":2911,"date":"2013-06-20T02:11:39","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T02:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2911"},"modified":"2013-06-20T06:28:28","modified_gmt":"2013-06-20T06:28:28","slug":"arkyd-space-telescope-kickstarter-passes-1m-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2911","title":{"rendered":"ARKYD space telescope Kickstarter passes $1M goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Planetary Resources<\/a> Kickstarter campaign for the ARKYD public access space telescope<\/a> surpassed the $1,000,000 goal today. At the moment, they have 11,356 backers, with $1,003,126 pledged and 11 days to go.<\/p>\n

Just yesterday (see post\u00a0 here<\/a>) they had $916,582 after about 20 days of fundraising. It was starting to look like the pledges had leveled off and they might have trouble reaching $1M. When I saw the total this evening, I first thought that a single person might have given them a boost but the number of backers had also jumped from about 100 per day to over 700 today as seen in the charts at ARKYD – Kicktraq<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They also introduced new Add-ons<\/a> and a new mystery stretch goal for $1.5M:<\/p>\n

New $1.5M Mystery Stretch Goal Revealed!<\/b>
\nWhen we reach $1.5 Million in pledges, every selfie pledge or higher will receive an exclusive digital Beta-Selfie, taken next year during the crucial integration phase of spacecraft build! Become a part of the build and catch a glimpse of our clean-room squad in action!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Update<\/strong>: Here is an update and video from PR:<\/p>\n

Many of you have just crowdfunded a space telescope, bringing space within reach for everyone! \u00a0You know who you are – THANK YOU!!! \u00a0We passed our $1M campaign funding goal today and are now on the way to our $2M stretch goal of searching for Alien Planets. \u00a0Help us get there.<\/a><\/p>\n

We passed 11,000 backers while I was live on-air with Leo at Twit.tv \/ Triangulation<\/a>, and thanks to The Oatmeal<\/a>\u2019s pledge and fan support, we\u2019re accelerating towards an exciting final 10 days of the campaign!<\/p>\n

Time is running out to join the community that is democratizing space exploration and sharing it with the world. \u00a0Make your pledge<\/a>! \u00a0This is only the start of something REALLY BIG.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a ton of new stuff over on our Kickstarter page<\/a>, including live events next week with Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), Seth Green and Hank Green, Richard Garriott (Lord British) and Jon Mavor (Planetary Annihilation), add-on pledge levels, new stretch goals, and our main Kickstarter video translated into more than a dozen languages, including Klingon<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n