posted 05-29-2013 07:14 PM               

Editor's note: To keep the topic Planetary Resources: Arkyd citizen space telescope focused on status updates, feedback and opinions are directed to this thread.

Please use this topic to discuss Planetary Resources' Arkyd space telescope and the company's Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign.

posted 05-29-2013 07:23 PM               

The "selfie" will be an HD family selfie, obviously in our best NASA garb.

posted 05-29-2013 07:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by mode1charlie:
...anyone know how without creating different Kickstarter profiles?

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After the end of the Kickstarter campaign you will receive a survey that will ask you questions so that you can explain how you would like the add-on money assigned.

posted 05-30-2013 03:55 AM               

I too had the question about how to get multiple photos as I need two for my kids and would like to give others as gifts to nephews and nieces.

If multiple Kickstarter accounts can be tied to a single Amazon account for the payments then I guess that's the answer. All you need then is multiple email addresses.

Still, it would be nice to be able to re-pledge from the same account at a given level.

posted 05-30-2013 08:34 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by spaced out:
Another option that would be nice is a group package, e.g. to be able to buy 30 photos and some telescope shots for your kid's school class...

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One K-12 school, university or museum (of your choice, if desired) will get the educational experience of a lifetime. Access to the Arkyd, plus teaching tools to make Science & Technology come alive:

• 25 Main Optic Observations to be directed by the teacher and students
  
• 30 (Digital) Space Selfies and 30 Mission Patches to provide to students
  
• Educational Poster describing the technology that makes the ARKYD work.
  
• Access to a curriculum and tutorial developed by the team at Planetary Resources, in collaboration with educators
  
• A full size desktop model of the ARKYD as a teaching tool with the pledger name (if desired) etched into it.
  
• 1-Year Membership to Planetary Society

posted 05-30-2013 09:13 AM               

In any case I've gone for another approach. Using multiple email accounts, as suggested above, I've taken a couple of 'selfie' options for my kids plus a couple of selfie/main optic options which I intend to give to their school classes when the time comes. That way their class can take a special photo or paint a picture to upload and they can choose one target for an image from the telescope.

posted 05-30-2013 05:04 PM               

At the $1,500, $5,000 and $10,000 levels, we will ask you to identify the school of your choice once the campaign finishes.

posted 05-31-2013 04:12 AM               

I see that they've just tipped the 5,000 backers level and are over the half way mark in terms of funding.

Out of interest I've tried to work our where my 'selfies' fall in the queue, taking into account the priorities specified at the different levels and the order in which pledges were placed.

At the specified rate of 150 a day my examples are currently sitting at roughly 17 and 19 days in the schedule (they'll be pushed back by new higher priority pledges).

posted 06-07-2013 10:29 PM               

As we approach our campaign goal at the one million mark, we are gearing up to announce one of the most audacious stretch goals on Kickstarter.

If we reach our primary goal by Monday, we’ll announce enhancements that will open the ARKYD to new frontiers of astronomy and put your selfies on the fast track.

We are encouraging each of YOU to recruit ONE person to support ARKYD at the $25 dollar level by Monday.

To help get us there, we’ve created two new pledge levels that many of YOU have been asking for: The Space Selfie Five-Pack for Friends and Family (Basic and HD).

posted 06-11-2013 01:38 PM               

Alien planets are out there and Planetary Resources needs your help to find them! That's right, the same high-powered telescope technology being used by Planetary Resources to identify near-Earth asteroids can also be used to hunt for what scientists call extrasolar planets or "exoplanets" – which are very much alien worlds. For the first-time ever, this capability will be placed directly into the hands of students, researchers and citizen scientists.

Planetary Resources recently launched a campaign on Kickstarter for the ARKYD – the world's first crowdfunded space telescope accessible to the public. In only 13 days, the company has already reached well over 85 percent of its original US$1 million goal. Today, the company is announcing that if the total amount pledged exceeds US$2 million in the 19 days remaining in the campaign, it will invest the additional funds to enhance the ARKYD space telescope technology to enable it to search for alien planets!

These upgrades would add exoplanet transit detection capability by enhancing the telescope's stability systems and dedicating time to monitor candidate star systems. A special bonus is that this upgrade would also allow for better measurement of the spin-properties of asteroids, using the same technique. "While the ARKYD won't rival NASA's US$600 million Kepler spacecraft, which may have to end its mission due to a recent equipment failure, the enhanced ARKYD will be a huge step toward important new scientific discoveries enabled by citizen scientists," said Chris Lewicki, President and Chief Engineer, Planetary Resources, Inc.

The company is partnered with one of the world's leading exoplanet scientists, Sara Seager, Ph.D. of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Seager, Professor of Physics and Planetary Science at MIT stated, "We're excited about this game-changing approach that could transform how we do science in the future. It's not just about advanced technology in a small satellite, but a crowdfunded approach to space science that could be revolutionary. The enhanced version of the ARKYD telescope will be an important source of data for exoplanets that can only be obtained from space, above the blurring effects of Earth's turbulent atmosphere."

posted 06-19-2013 08:30 PM               

New $1.5M Mystery Stretch Goal Revealed!
When we reach $1.5 Million in pledges, every selfie pledge or higher will receive an exclusive digital Beta-Selfie, taken next year during the crucial integration phase of spacecraft build! Become a part of the build and catch a glimpse of our clean-room squad in action!

posted 06-30-2013 02:28 PM               

Well here we are, in the final hours of our crowdfunding campaign. We have a lot in store for you during our live finale event, beginning at 3:00 p.m. PDT today through the close of our Kickstarter campaign at 7:00 p.m. PDT. But before all of that fun starts, we wanted to share with you some exciting news.

We are pleased to announce that Sir Richard Branson has joined Planetary Resources' core group of investors.

"I'm excited to be part of the Planetary Resources’ team working on extracting precious minerals from near Earth asteroids. The only way to truly explore our Solar System is to develop the technology and means to sustain our presence in space without depleting resources of Earth." — Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group.

AND... he is so excited that the ARKYD will provide unprecedented public access to space, he has generously made his own campaign pledge of $100,000 to support interactive programming to strengthen STEM education, and to move us closer to our remaining three stretch goals.

posted 05-26-2016 02:28 PM               

Due to the lack of necessary follow-on support, we are saddened to announce that we are unable to fulfill the "ARKYD: A Space Telescope for Everyone" campaign.