{"id":3044,"date":"2013-06-27T19:56:42","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T19:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3044"},"modified":"2013-06-27T19:56:42","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T19:56:42","slug":"asteroid-zoo-citizen-science-program-stretch-goal-for-planetary-resources-arkyd-kickstarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3044","title":{"rendered":"Asteroid Zoo citizen science program – stretch goal for Planetary Resources Arkyd Kickstarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planetary Resources<\/a> and Zooniverse<\/a> plan a collaboration – Asteroid Zoo – if the Kickstarter campaign for the\u00a0 ARKYD space telescope for the public<\/a> reaches $1.7M:<\/p>\n

Planetary Resources Calls on Citizens of Earth to\u00a0Aid in Planetary Defense<\/strong><\/p>\n

Company Announces New Crowdfunding Goal to Create \u201cAsteroid Zoo\u201d
\nfor Public to Search for Dangerous Near-Earth Asteroids<\/em><\/p>\n

Bellevue, Washington \u2013 June 27, 2013 \u2013 Planetary Resources<\/a>, the asteroid mining company, has announced a collaboration with Zooniverse<\/a> that will empower citizen scientists to aid in the search for dangerous near Earth asteroids (NEAs) and support planetary defense.<\/p>\n

Planetary Resources is in the final stretch of its Kickstarter campaign, ARKYD \u2013 the world\u2019s first crowdfunded space telescope for the public<\/a>, which has generated nearly 15,000 supporters and US$1.2M in pledges. If pledges reach US$1.7 million in the three remaining days of the campaign, Planetary Resources and Zooniverse will create Asteroid Zoo, a program to allow students, citizen scientists and space enthusiasts to find potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) at home and help train computers to better find them in the future.<\/p>\n

Visit Planetary Resources\u2019 Kickstarter Page to Help Reach this Goal: http:\/\/bit.ly\/ARKYD-100<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPlanetary Resources values the power of the connected mind; when working together, we can accomplish much more than any of us can do alone,\u201d said Chris Lewicki, President and Chief Engineer, Planetary Resources, Inc. \u201cWe\u2019re creating this program to harness the public\u2019s interest in space and asteroid detection, while providing a very real benefit to our planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Lintott, astronomer at the University of Oxford and Zooniverse Principal Investigator said, \u201cZooniverse volunteers have already inspected more than a million galaxies, discovered planets and kept an eye on solar storms. We’re looking forward to working with Planetary Resources to make sure citizen scientists everywhere can make a real contribution to spotting asteroids, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 66 million years since scientists believe a 10-kilometer asteroid slammed into the Earth, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today, there are approximately 620,000 objects that are actively tracked in our Solar System, which represents merely one percent of the 60 million asteroids estimated to orbit the Sun.\u00a0The NEA population of 1 km+ asteroids is approximately 860, over 90 percent of which are known and 155 of which might be described as extinction-level\/dinosaur-killing PHAs. It is currently estimated that less than one percent of smaller asteroids (less than 100m) have been found. None of these currently pose a threat to Earth, and while many of these asteroids are small, they are capable of regional disaster, such as massive damage to a metro city.<\/p>\n

Modeled after Zooniverse\u2019s popular Galaxy Zoo<\/a> and other astronomy projects, Asteroid Zoo will allow the public to search through terabytes of data collected by Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) for undiscovered asteroids in a fun, game-like process from their personal computers. The public\u2019s findings will be used by scientists to develop advanced asteroid-searching technology for telescopes on Earth and in space, including the ARKYD. Of all the asteroids ever discovered, 93 percent were found in the last 15 years and nearly half of the near-Earth asteroids were discovered by CSS.<\/p>\n

Eric Christensen, Principal Investigator for the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey stated, “We’re excited to open our archive of more than three-million images to citizen scientists around the world, and look forward to seeing what surprises are hiding in the data set. The results of this effort will provide invaluable feedback that we can use to make CSS a better survey.”<\/p>\n

Defending our planet from PHAs is also a top priority for NASA, which recently announced a new grand challenge of \u201cfinding all asteroid threats to human populations and knowing what to do about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About Planetary Resources<\/p>\n

Planetary Resources, Inc. was founded in 2009 by Eric Anderson and Dr. Peter H. Diamandis. Our vision is to establish a new paradigm for resource utilization that will bring the Solar System within humanity\u2019s economic sphere of influence. The company will conduct low-cost robotic space exploration beginning with the Arkyd Series of space missions that will identify the most commercially viable near-Earth asteroids. These initial missions will assist the company in enabling the retrieval of raw materials from these select asteroids, including water, precious metals and more.<\/p>\n

Planetary Resources is financed by industry-launching visionaries, three of whom include Google\u2019s CEO Larry Page & Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt; and Ross Perot, Jr., Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group; who are committed to expanding the world\u2019s resource base so humanity can continue to grow and prosper for centuries to come. Some of the company\u2019s partners and advisors include the Bechtel Corporation; film maker and explorer James Cameron; former Chief of Staff, United States Air Force General T. Michael Moseley (Ret.); and Sara Seager, Ph.D., Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at MIT. Members of the company\u2019s technical staff have worked on every recent U.S. Mars lander including Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity, and include other key non-aerospace and safety-critical disciplines. For more information, please visit www.planetaryresources.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow us on Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Google+<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> for all the latest updates!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planetary Resources and Zooniverse plan a collaboration – Asteroid Zoo – if the Kickstarter campaign for the\u00a0 ARKYD space telescope for the public reaches $1.7M: Planetary Resources Calls on Citizens of Earth to\u00a0Aid in Planetary Defense Company Announces New Crowdfunding Goal to Create \u201cAsteroid Zoo\u201d for Public to Search for Dangerous Near-Earth Asteroids Bellevue, Washington … Continue reading Asteroid Zoo citizen science program – stretch goal for Planetary Resources Arkyd Kickstarter<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asteroids","category-space-participation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/bannerA-150x40.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-N6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8180,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8180","url_meta":{"origin":3044,"position":0},"title":"Asteroid Zoo: A new citizen science project","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"An announcement from\u00a0Planetary Resource\u00a0and\u00a0Zooniverse: PLANETARY RESOURCES AND ZOONIVERSE LAUNCH ASTEROID ZOO, A CITIZEN SCIENCE ASTEROID CHALLENGE Asteroid Zoo Engages Public in Search for Near Earth Asteroids that are Potentially Hazardous, Resource Rich or Possible Human Destinations Redmond, Washington \u2013 June 24, 2014 \u2013 Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining company, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Asteroids & Comets"","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids & Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5399,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5399","url_meta":{"origin":3044,"position":1},"title":"Planetary Resources and NASA partnering to crowdsource asteroid detection","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Planetary Resources\u00a0\"The Asteroid Mining Company\" has announced a partnership with NASA \u00a0to design and implement crowdsourcing algorithm challenges in the effort to detect, track and characterize near-Earth objects (NEOs).\u00a0 All data compiled and used for these challenges will be open-sourced and publicly available. Planetary Resources Partners with NASA to Crowdsource\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Asteroids & Comets"","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids & Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3099,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3099","url_meta":{"origin":3044,"position":2},"title":"Richard Branson adds $100k to Arkyd public space telescope Kickstarter","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Live webcast from 6:00 - 9:00 pm ET: A message from Planetary Resources: In the final hours, we\u2019re $100K closer to $2M \u2014 Sir Richard Branson supports the ARKYD! Hi there, Well here we are, in the final hours of our crowdfunding campaign.\u00a0 We have a lot in store for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"Finale-Banner-w-Bill-Nye","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.planetaryresources.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Finale-Banner-w-Bill-Nye1-300x75.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2738,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2738","url_meta":{"origin":3044,"position":3},"title":"Exoplanet search stretch goal for Planetary Resources Arkyd telescope Kickstarter","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Planetary Resources crowd-funding campaign for the ARKYD Space Telescope has reached 9,558 Backers, $858,127 pledged of $1,000,000 goal with 19 days to go. To boost pledges far beyond that goal they have posted an ambitious Stretch Goal: Planetary Resources Needs YOUR Help to Hunt for Alien Planets Asteroid mining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2560,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2560","url_meta":{"origin":3044,"position":4},"title":"ARKYD space telescope for public access – Kickstarter pledges rocket upwards","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Planetary Resources is a company planning to mine asteroids. Initially, though, they will place small observatories into earth orbit to search for candidate near earth orbit asteroids to which they will later send probes for closer inspection. On Wednesday they announced a program to dedicate one of their space observatories\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/8WuJwk-7rZI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3050,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3050","url_meta":{"origin":3044,"position":5},"title":"Video: Planetary Society Hangout with Chris Lewicki of Planetary Resources","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest Hangout of the Planetary Society welcomes Chris Lewicki of Planetary Resources, Inc. who talks about their Arkyd space telesope project and asteroid mining : Planetary Society Hangout: Arkyd Telescopes, Planetary Resources, Chris Lewicki, Bill Nye - The Planetary Society http:\/\/youtu.be\/oZGXmFliiO8","rel":"","context":"In "Activism"","block_context":{"text":"Activism","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/oZGXmFliiO8\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3046,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3044\/revisions\/3046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}