ARKYD: The Telescope For The Masses, Gets Funded On Kickstarter

An initiative by Planetary Resources to build and launch a space telescope for public use has exceeded the goal of $1,000,000 by a huge margin on Kickstarter. The project received donations of $1,505,366 from 17,614 backers by its deadline of 30th June. The project was started with the initial motive of monitoring dangerous asteroids and mine them for minerals. The public will be offered the chance of using it for brief periods in which they can aim the space telescope at any celestial body they want. While the above feature is for backers who have given a donation of between $100 and $200 dollars, if you have a lower budget the company will let you take a "space selfie" for just $25. The "space selfie" works in the following way, you can send your desired image to Planetary Resources, who shall then transmit the image to the telescope’s outer display and the telescope will take a picture of the display with the earth in the background. If you want a higher resolution photo or a printed one you have to shell out $65 and $39 respectively and for a video to be shot in the same way you will have to pay $2,500.


Elite socialites can act as educational ambassadors by financing the project and make it available for their desired schools, college and researchers. Finally if you pay $10000 or more you will get a chance to name an asteroid and enjoy all the above mentioned benefits. For full list of details of rewards for backers you may refer to their #-Link-Snipped-#. The construction of the space telescope will start from August and the company is hoping to launch it by 2015.

So what do you think about this development, Let us know by posting your views in the comment section.