Picture this: a group of eccentric billionaires and former NASA scientists are gathered around a conference table, discussing plans to significantly shape the world economy. Their plan is to mine asteroids hurling through space for rare metals like gold and platinum and bring the resources back onto earth. Does this sound like some type of diabolical scheme hatched by villains in a sci-fi movie?
The fact of the matter is that these roundtable discussions are happening today and are very real. “Space mining” is absolutely normal conversation in the boardrooms of Planetary Resources, a collaborative effort between prominent entrepreneurs, aerospace engineers, and futurist philanthropists that plans to begin harnessing resources from asteroids to add trillions of dollars to the world GDP within the next 2 years.
It is an initiative that seems to push against every boundary of the imagination when it comes to creating a business model. The co-founders and backers of Planetary Resources are about as qualified as any group could possibly be to run a company whose mission is to realize the wild dreams of science fiction authors of the past 50 years. Figures like Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, and Film Director and James Cameron all exhibit passion and relentless drive towards innovation and exploration. Their commitment to innovation is one thing, but how far can ambition carry an entrepreneur or a company?
Every business, regardless of size, is at its core fueled by the ambitions of both the leadership and the individual members of the organization. In the digital age, with powerful technology at our disposal, it is crucial to design strategies and initiatives that help a company work towards attaining its goals. It is the push that defines success.
For some, Planetary Resources may arguably be called the single most ambitious private venture in the history of mankind. Still, there seems little reason to doubt that the goals and objectives that have been laid out by the company given the capability and unparalleled determination of its personnel. If the organization manages to ultimately fulfill the vision, it will be resounding and historic proof that just about anything is possible.