Corporations to Mine Asteroids

According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, no government has the right to claim land in outer space. However, on April 24, the private company Planetary Resources revealed their plans to mine asteroids of their precious metals (like gold and platinum) in order to make trillions of dollars in profits back on Earth. They claim the project will increase our knowledge of asteroids and early detection methods. Planetary Resources is funded by Avatar’s film maker James Cameron and several Google executives, among others.