Salon.com > computer science http://www.salon.com Mon, 20 May 2013 11:01:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Asteroid mining start-up seeks interns http://www.salon.com/2012/10/02/asteroid_mining_startup_seeks_interns/ http://www.salon.com/2012/10/02/asteroid_mining_startup_seeks_interns/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:36:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13028086 The job posting for Planetary Resources' asteroid mining intern might sound like a hoax or a sketchy Craigslist ad. Look a little closer and you'll see that it's backed by big-time investors like Google CEO Larry Page and executive chairman Eric Schmidt. (Director James Cameron is an advisor, even though "Avatar" took a bold stand against plundering extraterrestrial wealth.)

Planetary Resources wants to expand humanity's natural resource base by looking for essential materials, like water and  metals, in non-Earth surfaces, then transport them back to Earth. The company hopes to achieve this through the creation of highly specialized robots, satellites and space telescopes, and believes the industry will "add trillions of dollars to the global GDP."

Until now, the company, which has been around since 2010, has kept things pretty hush-hush. But now it's ready to let a few college students inside. According to a recent job posting, the company needs interns "to assist in the development of new systems and technologies for the commercial robotic exploration of near Earth asteroids."  Cool, right?

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