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Brent Spiner On Why Space Telescopes And Asteroid Mining Matter For Earth's Survival

This article is more than 10 years old.

Planetary Resources has what they call "the most audacious mission ever", one that has caught the attention of Star Trek royalty such as Robert Picardo and Brent Spiner. It's the task of finding the natural resources that will sustain the planet for future generations: the 9,000 asteroids in near-Earth orbit, known as Near Earth Objects, or Near Earth Asteroids, to be precise. The company's goal is to develop and deploy "low cost commercial robotic spacecraft" to mine these resources (relatively) close to the Earth for precious metals. Water is the company's highest search priority, the basic natural resource envisioned as fueling the prospective in-space economy. The extraction of rare metals from asteroids, on the other hand, would add value to the Earth’s GDP. The economic rationale behind all this is that a minerals-rich source of space resources will continue the sustenance of Earth's economy. Thereby increasing, it is hoped, humanity’s prosperity, while creating and maintaining a viable human economic presence in space. Spiner, known to millions of loyal Trek fans around the world as Commander Data, has signed on to this noblest of missions. In the end, it's a bold mission indeed: space exploration, asteroid mining and stopping the gradual environmental degradation of the earth's ecosystem by availing ourselves of the mineral and aquatic resources of asteroids in near-Earth orbit. Spiner was among the celebrity guests yesterday at Seattle's Museum of Flight for the launch of Planetary Resources' most recent project, the ARKYD space telescope. Planetary Resources wants to bring the awe that astronauts experience in space to the rest of us by making the ARKYD pronounced [ahrk-kid], an advanced, orbiting space telescope, available to the general public.

I was fortunate to be catch Spiner for a couple of minutes away from the hustle and bustle of the Planetary Resources event (and his fans, of course). I asked him about how he became involved with Planetary Resources' quest to extract natural resources from asteroids and with the company's recent Kickstarter project, the first publicly-accessible space telescope.

Michael Venables: When did you first become involved with Planetary Resources and their projects of asteroid mining and the ARKYD telescope?

Brent Spiner: Well, Peter Diamandis (CEO, Planetary Resources) -- he and I did a thing last year at Qualcomm for X Prize - that was about offering the idea to somebody to create a personal medical tricorder. And there's a great prize: Qualcomm has offered the prize money to whoever can come up with that within three years. So we got to know each other at that point. And then he called me when this came up and asked me if I would be interested in working on it with him. And, because I have an 11 year-old son, I was very happy to participate in this, because they're making it available to schools and they are creating curricula for high schools to use this telescope for planetary study. So, I think that's a really worthwhile reason to be involved.

Venables: How do you see your continuing involvement with the project, as far as your personal goals?

Spiner: I don't know. I mean, it really is up to them [the Planetary Resources team]. Any time they need me to help, I'd be glad to do it. Obviously, I have a profile that attracts sci-fi fans who are also space fans. And there's a real overlap there. And, I think just by being part of it, I create a little bit of buzz that creates interest for a larger number of people.

Venables: Given your past experience as a Star Trek icon, do you see yourself as having the mission of fostering the exploration of the universe, much like your character, Commander Data did in Star Trek: The Next Generation?

Spiner: I would say no to that. My interest is that I have an 11 year-old son. And I think our children are our future. And if we can help them access information . . . I'm an actor, pure and simple. I'm in show business. I write. I act. That's what I do. But, I am one of the humans who lives on the planet who is participating in destroying this beautiful place we live in. And, we're leaving this legacy of destruction for our kids and I'm hoping that through things like Planetary Resources and this ARKYD telescope, that our kids can gather enough information that they can bail us out and bail themselves out. So that's my interest and involvement in it, really.

Venables: That's great to hear. I'm very glad to see that you are supporting such a worthy STEM project.

Spiner: I think it is too. I see no downside to it.

Venables: As a life-long Star Trek fan, I have to ask this. Do you miss being Commander Data?

Spiner: Not really. I mean, I don't want to disappoint you, but we did 178 hours of television and another four feature films. When we finished . . . by the time we finished doing the series, I had, well, in the seven years we worked on the show, I was Data more often than I was me, unless I was asleep. So, it really . . . I figure nobody got cheated. I did enough. They wanted enough. So, I feel okay about it.

The famous human behind Commander Data, in addition to Robert Picardo, James Cameron and other tech and academic notables such as Google's Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, MIT's Sara Seager, Charles Simonyi and others have all backed the scientific projects of Planetary Resources. Their ARKYD space telescope Kickstarter project has raised almost half of it's $1 million goal in less than 24 hours.

The goal of the ARKYD project is to reduce the cost of in-orbit space observatories and expand their availability for anyone to use for research or in the classroom. The minimalist-engineered design of the telescope will become a model of deploying an efficient "space observatory" that is smaller and more efficient, having a large main optic, deployable solar panels, specialized communications antenna and onboard screen. Its external camera arm can take photos of itself in Earth orbit and anyone will be able to take a “Space Selfie” picture of themselves in space. The ARKYD's main optic will have the capability of searching for asteroids (although the company is careful to point out other technologically-specific craft will have the singular and critical capability for search, prospect and extract missions to asteroids) and of peering at deep space, from Jupiter to the Crab Nebula.

Several prominent astronauts have reported that, after seeing their picture above the Earth and viewing Gaia's borderless planetary mass, protected only by a thin atmosphere, they experienced what is known as the "Overview Effect." They were filled with a deeply-felt, ethical imperative to protect our planet from increasing pollution, resource depletion and environmental degradation. In 1990, Pierre Weil wrote prescient words to this effect, in stating that the goal of holistic education was to repair our self-inflicted ecological disasters and bring back a balance between humankind and our environment. What Pierre Weil called "planetary ecology" is our holistic, peaceful relationship that we strive to develop with the earth in our daily economic, social and cultural lives. But, first, he cautions, we should develop our "inner ecology," that is, living in peace with ourselves and our social ecology, living in peace with others. And, living in peace with nature, Weil reminds us, is acknowledging all matter, life and atomic/genetic/intelligent information. If we can struggle that far all together, it will ultimately enlarge what Weil calls our "planetary geocentric consciousness." Brent Spiner wisely reminds us that the great  task of finding environmental balance for our planet lies with the next generation, " . . . that our kids can gather enough information that they can bail us out and bail themselves out."

The ARKYD telescope will bring Planetary Resources one step closer to realizing their vision of mining the natural resources of near-Earth asteroids for the improvement of Earth's economic and environmental future. The space telescope project brings a fundamental shift in both the funding and access models of scientific research. The ARKYD telescope is crowdfunded and the future use of the telescope will be available to the public at large. Most importantly, access by the nation's school children will foster the study of STEM subjects such as the space sciences and engineering in primary education.

We will do well to support this and all efforts to further the goals of space exploration and STEM education, and finally learn the environmental mindset we need to be good caretakers. To take care of our planet's ecological systems and bring them back in balance, for our own and our children's future. Commander Data once said,

If being human is not simply a matter of being born flesh and blood, if it is instead a way of thinking, acting and... feeling, then I am hopeful that one day I will discover my own humanity. - . . .  - Until then, Commander Maddox, I will continue learning, changing, growing, and trying to become more than what I am.

We have no other conscious, environmental choice for our planet other than to make Data proud. Let's make it so.

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