Save the earth: mine space!

Mining has to be one of the most controversial ways to extract resources – and the passions that the often destructive process evokes are matched only by society’s demand for raw materials.

Wouldn’t it be great, then, if we could mine rare and raw materials without damaging living systems, or hurting the planet?

Amazingly, that’s the idea behind an ambitious company called Planetary Resources, which is being funded by private investors that include Google CEO Larry Page, film director James Cameron, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, and Google executive Eric Schimdt.

The founders have assembled a high-tech team of space engineers with the plan of powering the future by using the raw materials found in asteroids.