SpaceDev's plans to mine asteroids and return resources from other parts of the solar system to the earth have been put on a backburner while it places emphasis on more cost-effective commercial space science.
The Denver-based company aims to bring back "-more science per dollar than achieved by NASA, which spends about $1 billion a year on space science", says chairman Jim Benson.
The first SpaceDev mission, the Near Earth Asteroid Prospector (NEAP), is on target with a budget of $50 million, aiming for an April 2001 launch date. The private commercial space exploration company has awarded NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory a contract to provide analysis and planning services for the communications network needed to support the NEAP, which will rendezvous with the asteroid 4660 Nereus inmid-2002.
Source: Flight International