Seattle, Wash. – Planetary Resources PR

Resource extraction from asteroids will deliver multiple benefits to humanity and grow to be valued at tens of billions of dollars annually. The effort will tap into the high concentration of precious metals found on asteroids and provide a sustainable supply to the ever-growing population on Earth.

A single 500-meter platinum-rich asteroid contains the equivalent of all the Platinum Group Metals mined in history.

“Many of the scarce metals and minerals on Earth are in near-infinite quantities in space. As access to these materials increases, not only will the cost of everything from microelectronics to energy storage be reduced, but new applications for these abundant elements will result in important and novel applications,” said Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources, Inc.

Additionally, water-rich NEAs will serve as “stepping stones” for deep space exploration, providing space-sourced fuel and water to orbiting depots.  Accessing water resources in space will revolutionize exploration and make space travel dramatically more economical.

“Water is perhaps the most valuable resource in space. Accessing a water-rich asteroid will greatly enable the large-scale exploration of the solar system. In addition to supporting life, water will also be separated into oxygen and hydrogen for breathable air and rocket propellant,” said Eric Anderson, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources, Inc.

Of the approximately 9,000 known NEAs, there are more than 1,500 that are energetically as easy to reach as the Moon. The capability to characterize NEAs is on the critical path for Planetary Resources. To that end, the company has developed the first line in its family of deep-space prospecting spacecraft, the Arkyd-100 Series. The spacecraft will be used in low-Earth orbit and ultimately help prioritize the first several NEA targets for the company’s follow-on Arkyd-300 Series NEA swarm expeditions.

Chris Lewicki, President and Chief Engineer, said “Our mission is not only to expand the world’s resource base, but we want to increase people’s access to, and understanding of, our planet and solar system by developing capable and cost-efficient systems.”

“The promise of Planetary Resources is to apply commercial innovation to space exploration.  They are developing cost-effective, production-line spacecraft that will visit near-Earth asteroids in rapid succession, increasing our scientific knowledge of these bodies and enabling the economic development of the resources they contain,” said Tom Jones, Ph.D., veteran NASA astronaut, planetary scientist and Planetary Resources, Inc. advisor.

Planetary Resources is financed by industry-launching visionaries, including Google CEO Larry Page and Ross Perot, Jr., Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group, who are committed to expanding the world’s resource base so that humanity can continue to grow and prosper:

• Eric E. Schmidt, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Planetary Resources, Inc. investor: “The pursuit of resources drove the discovery of America and opened the West.  The same drivers still hold true for opening the space frontier.  Expanding the resource base for humanity is important for our future.”

• K. Ram Shriram, Founder of Sherpalo, Google Board of Directors founding member and Planetary Resources, Inc. investor: “I see the same potential in Planetary Resources as I did in the early days of Google.”

• Charles Simonyi, Ph.D., Chairman of Intentional Software Corporation and Planetary Resources, Inc. investor: “The commercialization of space began with communications satellites and is developing for human spaceflight. The next logical step is to begin the innovative development of resources from space.  I’m proud to be part of this effort.”

The company’s advisors include film maker and explorer James Cameron; General T. Michael Moseley (Ret.); Sara Seager, Ph.D.; Mark Sykes, Ph.D.; and David Vaskevitch.

Founded in 2009 by Eric Anderson and Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Planetary Resources, Inc. is establishing a new paradigm for resource utilization that will bring the solar system within humanity’s economic sphere of influence by enabling low-cost robotic exploration and eventual commercial development of asteroids.  For more information, please visit www.PlanetaryResources.com.

Illustration of an asteroid retrieval spacecraft in the process of capturing a 7-m, 500-ton asteroid. (Image Credit: Rick Sternbach / KISS)

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

A new study sponsored by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) has concluded that it would be possible to return an asteroid weighing approximately 500 metric tons to high lunar orbit where it would be mined for resources by 2025.

The Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, published on April 2, was prepared for KISS, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Co-leaders of the study included John Brophy of NASA JPL/Caltech, Fred Culick of Caltech, and Louis Friedman of The Planetary Society and participants included representatives of other NASA centers, various universities, institutes and private companies.

The report may provide a preview of what a new company named Planetary Resources spearheaded by the X PRIZE Foundation’s Peter Diamandis will unveil during a press conference in Seattle next Tuesday. Two of the 34 study participants were Planetary Resources President and Chief Engineer Chris Lewicki and former astronaut Tom Jones, who is an adviser to the company. The start-up – which is backed by Google billionaires Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, Microsoft mogul Charles Simonyi, filmmaker James Cameron, and Ross Perot, Jr. – says it will “overlay two critical sectors – space exploration and natural resources – to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP. This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of ‘natural resources’.”

Asteroid return mission concept. Return flight time of 2 to 6 years depending on the asteroid mass. (Source: Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, KISS)

The study examined the possibility of launching an asteroid retrieval spacecraft aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle, which is already operational. The study calculated the “full life-cycle cost of an asteroid capture and return mission at ~$2.6B[illion].” That cost is likely low enough to the mission could be attractive to private companies like Planetary Resources, providing they can locate an asteroid with sufficient resources to make a profit.

Conceptual spacecraft in the cruise configuration with the capture mechanism deployed. (Source: Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, KISS)

Study participants said the mission is feasible and would fit in well with NASA’s long-term objectives for exploring beyond low Earth orbit.

The two major conclusions from the KISS study are: 1) that it appears feasible to identify, capture and return an entire ~7-m diameter, ~500,000-kg near-Earth asteroid to a high lunar orbit using technology that is or could be available in this decade, and 2) that such an endeavor may be essential technically and programmatically for the success of both near-term and long-term human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit….

“The proposed Asteroid Capture and Return mission would impact an impressive range of NASA interests including: the establishment of an accessible, high-value target in cislunar space; near-term operational experience with astronaut crews in the vicinity of an asteroid; a new synergy between robotic and human missions in which robotic spacecraft return resources for human exploitation and use in space; the potential to jump-start an entire industry based on in situ resource utilization; expansion of international cooperation in space; and planetary defense. It has the potential for cost effectively providing sufficient radiation shielding to protect astronauts from galactic cosmic rays and to provide the propellant necessary to transport the resulting shielded habitats. It would endow NASA and its partners with a new capability in deep space that hasn’t been seen since Apollo. Ever since the completion of the cold-war-based Apollo program there has been no over-arching geo-political rationale for the nation’s space ventures. Retrieving an asteroid for human exploration and exploitation would provide a new rationale for global achievement and inspiration. For the first time humanity would begin modification of the heavens for its benefit.

Below are the report’s Executive Summary and Conclusions sections, which provides a good overview of the study.  You can also read the full report.

Conceptual ACR spacecraft in the stowed configuration. (Source: Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, KISS)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report describes the results of a study sponsored by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) to investigate the feasibility of identifying, robotically capturing, and returning an entire Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) to the vicinity of the Earth by the middle of the next decade. The KISS study was performed by people from Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Space Center, Langley Research Center, the California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard University, the Naval Postgraduate School, University of California at Los Angeles, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of Southern California, Arkyd Astronautics, Inc., The Planetary Society, the B612 Foundation, and the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. The feasibility of an asteroid retrieval mission hinges on finding an overlap between the smallest NEAs that could be reasonably discovered and characterized and the largest NEAs that could be captured and transported in a reasonable flight time. This overlap appears to be centered on NEAs roughly 7 m in diameter corresponding to masses in the range of 250,000 kg to 1,000,000 kg. To put this in perspective, the Apollo program returned 382 kg of Moon rocks in six missions and the OSIRIS-REx mission proposes to return at least 60 grams of surface material from a NEA by 2023. The present study indicates that it would be possible to return a ~500,000-kg NEA to high lunar orbit by around 2025.

Bottom view of the conceptual ACR spacecraft showing the five 10-kW Hall thrusters and the RCS thruster clusters. (Source: Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, KISS)

The idea of exploiting the natural resources of asteroids dates back over a hundred years, but only now has the technology become available to make this idea a reality. The feasibility is enabled by three key developments: the ability to discover and characterize an adequate number of sufficiently small near-Earth asteroids for capture and return; the ability to implement sufficiently powerful solar electric propulsion systems to enable transportation of the captured NEA; and the proposed human presence in cislunar space in the 2020s enabling exploration and exploitation of the returned NEA.

Top view of the conceptual ACR spacecraft showing the instrument suite and capture mechanism prior to being deployed. (Source: Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, KISS)

Placing a 500-t asteroid in high lunar orbit would provide a unique, meaningful, and affordable destination for astronaut crews in the next decade. This disruptive capability would have a positive impact on a wide range of the nation’s human space exploration interests. It would provide a high-value target in cislunar space that would require a human presence to take full advantage of this new resource. It would offer an affordable path to providing operational experience with astronauts working around and with a NEA that could feed forward to much longer duration human missions to larger NEAs in deep space. It would provide an affordable path to meeting the nation’s goal of sending astronauts to a near-Earth object by 2025. It represents a new synergy between robotic and human missions in which robotic spacecraft retrieve significant quantities of valuable resources for exploitation by astronaut crews to enable human exploration farther out into the solar system. A key example of this is that water or other material extracted from a returned, volatile-rich NEA could be used to provide affordable shielding against galactic cosmic rays. The extracted water could also be used for propellant to transport the shielded habitat. These activities could jump-start an entire in situ resource utilization (ISRU) industry. The availability of a multi-hundred-ton asteroid in lunar orbit could also stimulate the expansion of international cooperation in space as agencies work together to determine how to sample and process this raw material. The capture, transportation, examination, and dissection of an entire NEA would provide valuable information for planetary defense activities that may someday have to deflect a much larger near-Earth object. Finally, placing a NEA in lunar orbit would provide a new capability for human exploration not seen since Apollo. Such an achievement has the potential to inspire a nation. It would be mankind’s first attempt at modifying the heavens to enable the permanent settlement of humans in space.

Conceptual spacecraft with solar arrays folded back to facilitate matching the asteroid’s spin state during the capture process. (Source: Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, KISS)

The report that follows outlines the observation campaign necessary to discover and characterize NEAs with the right combination of physical and orbital characteristics that make them attractive targets for return. It suggests that with the right ground-based observation campaign approximately five attractive targets per year could be discovered and adequately characterized. The report also provides a conceptual design of a flight system with the capability to rendezvous with a NEA in deep space, perform in situ characterization of the object and subsequently capture it, de-spin it, and transport it to lunar orbit in a total flight time of 6 to 10 years. The transportation capability would be enabled by a ~40-kW solar electric propulsion system with a specific impulse of 3,000 s. Significantly, the entire flight system could be launched to low-Earth orbit on a single Atlas V-class launch vehicle. With an initial mass to low-Earth orbit (IMLEO) of 18,000 kg, the subsequent delivery of a 500-t asteroid to lunar orbit represents a mass amplification factor of about 28-to-1. That is, 28 times the mass launched to LEO would be delivered to high lunar orbit, where it would be energetically in a favorable location to support human exploration beyond cislunar space. Longer flight times, higher power SEP systems, or a target asteroid in a particularly favorable orbit could increase the mass amplification factor from 28-to-1 to 70-to-1 or greater. The NASA GRC COMPASS team estimated the full life-cycle cost of an asteroid capture and return mission at ~$2.6B.

Conceptual flight system configuration before deployment of the capture mechanism showing the locations of the cameras on the solar array yokes used to verify proper deployment and subsequently to aid in the asteroid capture. (Source: Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, KISS)

CONCLUSIONS

The two major conclusions from the KISS study are: 1) that it appears feasible to identify, capture and return an entire ~7-m diameter, ~500,000-kg near-Earth asteroid to a high lunar orbit using technology that is or could be available in this decade, and 2) that such an endeavor may be essential technically and programmatically for the success of both near-term and long-term human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. One of the key challenges – the discovery and characterization of a sufficiently large number of small asteroids of the right type, size, spin state and orbital characteristics – could be addressed by a low-cost, ground-based observation campaign identified in the study. To be an attractive target for return the asteroid must be a C-type approximately 7 m in diameter, have a synodic period of approximately 10 years, and require a ∆V for return of less than ~200 m/s. Implementation of the observation campaign could enable the discovery of a few thousand small asteroids per year and the characterization of a fraction of these resulting in a likelihood of finding about five good targets per year that meet the criteria for return.

Notional NEA Human Mission Concept of Operations with Pre-deploy. (Sources: Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, KISS)

Proof-of-concept trajectory analysis based on asteroid 2008 HU4 (which is approximately the right size, but of an unknown spectral type) suggest that a robotic spacecraft with a 40-kW solar electric propulsion system could return this asteroid to a high-lunar orbit in a total flight time of 6 to 10 years assuming the asteroid has a mass in the range of 250,000 to 1,000,000 kg (with the shorter flight times corresponding to the lower asteroid mass). Significantly, these proof-of-concept trajectories baseline a single Atlas V-class launch to low-Earth orbit.

The study also considered an alternative concept in which the spacecraft picks up a ~7-m diameter rock from the surface of a much larger asteroid (> 100-m diameter). The advantage of this approach is that asteroids 100-m in diameter or greater are much easier to discover and characterize. This advantage is somewhat offset by the added complexity of trying to pick up a large 7-m diameter rock from the surface, and the fact that there are far fewer 100-m class NEAs than smaller ones making it more difficult to find ones with the desired orbital characteristics. This mission approach would seek to return approximately the same mass of asteroid material – of order 500,000 kg – as the approach that returns an entire small NEA.

Conceptual Human NEA Mission Excursion Vehicle Using SEP System (Image Credit/Source: NASA / AMA, Inc.)

The proposed Asteroid Capture and Return mission would impact an impressive range of NASA interests including: the establishment of an accessible, high-value target in cislunar space; near-term operational experience with astronaut crews in the vicinity of an asteroid; a new synergy between robotic and human missions in which robotic spacecraft return resources for human exploitation and use in space; the potential to jump-start an entire industry based on in situ resource utilization; expansion of international cooperation in space; and planetary defense. It has the potential for cost effectively providing sufficient radiation shielding to protect astronauts from galactic cosmic rays and to provide the propellant necessary to transport the resulting shielded habitats. It would endow NASA and its partners with a new capability in deep space that hasn’t been seen since Apollo. Ever since the completion of the cold-war-based Apollo program there has been no over-arching geo-political rationale for the nation’s space ventures. Retrieving an asteroid for human exploration and exploitation would provide a new rationale for global achievement and inspiration. For the first time humanity would begin modification of the heavens for its benefit.

That looks that might be the case.

According to NewsCore (who?), “Avatar” and “Titanic” director James Cameron bought the first private trip around the moon. That’s the rumor, anyway.

Space Adventures, which is setting up the trip aboard a modified Russian Soyuz transport, is neither confirming nor denying the story. The trip, would could take place as early as late 2015, is still awaiting the sale of a second $150 million ticket to another would-be lunar billionaut.

Cameron’s participation makes sense. Space Adventures officials have said that the first ticket holder was a prominent personality who was going to do something very special on his lunar trip. A motion picture with Earth as a fragile oasis theme against the backdrop of space would be right up his alley.

The other ticket holder may be one of the four men identified in Parabolic Arc’s recently completed poll at right. Virgin Galactic head honcho Richard Branson narrowly beat out Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The first clown in space, Guy Laliberte, was a distant third with two-time space traveler Charles Simonyi bringing up the rear.

Thanks to everyone who voted! Please vote on our new survey on who you would like to send on a one-way trip to Mars! Vote early. Vote often. Just vote, dammit!

Thank you very much.

The image shows Curiosity on a tilt table in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA PR — The NASA rover to be launched to Mars this year will carry the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument already on the vehicle, providing the capability to meet the mission’s science goals.

Work has stopped on an alternative version of the instrument, with a pair of zoom-lens cameras, which would have provided additional capabilities for improved three-dimensional video. The installed Mastcam on the Mars Science Laboratory mission’s Curiosity rover uses two fixed-focal-length cameras: a telephoto for one eye and wider angle for the other. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built the Mastcam and was funded by NASA last year to see whether a zoom version could be developed in time for testing on Curiosity.

“With the Mastcam that was installed last year and the rover’s other instruments, Curiosity can accomplish its ambitious research goals,” said Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. “Malin Space Science Systems has provided excellent, unprecedented science cameras for this mission. The possibility for a zoom-camera upgrade was very much worth pursuing, but time became too short for the levels of testing that would be needed for them to confidently replace the existing cameras. We applaud Malin Space Science Systems for their tremendous effort to deliver the zooms, and also the Mars Science Laboratory Project’s investment in supporting this effort.”

Malin Space Science Systems has also provided the Mars Hand Lens Imager and the Mars Descent Imager instruments on Curiosity. The company will continue to pursue development of the zoom system, both to prove out the design and to make the hardware available for possible use on future missions.

“While Curiosity won’t benefit from the 3D motion imaging that the zooms enable, I’m certain that this technology will play an important role in future missions,” said Mastcam Co-Investigator James Cameron. “In the meantime, we’re certainly going to make the most of our cameras that are working so well on Curiosity right now.”

Mastcam Principal Investigator Michael Malin said, “Although we are very disappointed that the zoom cameras will not fly, we expect the fixed-focal-length cameras to achieve all of the primary science objectives of the Mastcam investigation.”

The rover and other parts of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft are in testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., which manages the project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The spacecraft will be delivered to NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida in coming months for launch late this year. In August 2012, Curiosity will land on Mars for a two-year mission to examine whether conditions in the landing area have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving evidence about whether life has existed there.

James Cameron. Credit: Richard Burdett

Cameron joins a world-class Board of Trustees that includes a growing list of entrepreneurs, scientists and engineers such as Dean Kamen, inventor, CEO, DEKA; Dr. J. Craig Venter, CEO, Synthetic Genomics; Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla and CEO, SpaceX; Ray Kurzweil, futurist and author; Anousheh Ansari, first female private space explorer; Larry Page, CEO & co-founder, Google; and Arianna Huffington, President and Editor in Chief, Huffington Post Media Group. The Board actively participates by advising on where large incentive competitions (X PRIZEs and X CHALLENGEs) can drive radical breakthroughs to help address humanity’s grand challenges.

Cameron is a film director, producer, screenwriter, explorer and inventor. His award-winning writing and directing work includes Avatar, Titanic, Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss. Cameron spent years creating documentary films and co-developing the digital 3-D Fusion Camera System. Described as part-scientist and part-artist, Cameron has also contributed to the state of the art of underwater cinematography, NASA Mars missions and remotely piloted vehicle technologies. In addition to his Board of Trustees appointment, Cameron serves on the X PRIZE Foundation’s Exploration Advisory Committee.

“Capturing the public’s imagination is a key component of all critical exploration these days. We especially have to engage kids and the X PRIZE Foundation certainly does it,” said Cameron. “They really promote innovation and exploration in key areas and I’m honored to participate in the development of its initiatives.”

“I am excited to have James Cameron joining our board,” noted Peter Diamandis, Chairman & CEO, X PRIZE Foundation. “He’s committed to envisioning and creating the future and does not take ‘impossible’ as an answer to solving the world’s grand challenges.”

James Cameron will be honored, along with philanthropist Wendy Schmidt, on April 16 at an event hosted at the FOX Studios Lot (Los Angeles) by Fox Chairman and X PRIZE Foundation Trustee, Jim Gianopulos. To reserve tickets and inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Meghan Murphy at Meghan@xprize.org.

For more information about the X PRIZE Foundation, visit www.xprize.org.

Avatar Director/Producer James Cameron floats weightless in Zero G along with X PRIZE Trustees in a flight to raise funds for the X PRIZE Foundation. Left to right: Rob McEwen (Chairman, US Gold), James Cameron, Peter H. Diamandis (Chairman/CEO, X PRIZE), Elon Musk (Chairman/CEO, SpaceX), Jim Gianopulos (Chairman/CEO, Fox Filmed Entertainment). Photo credit: Steve Boxall

James Cameron and Friends Soar Weightless in the Avatar Zero-G Experience to Support The X PRIZE Foundation
X PRIZE Foundation Press Release

This special flight assembled a group of 30 individuals who are passionate about the science and technology represented in AVATAR and mission and innovation of the X PRIZE Foundation. Three spots were reserved for the winners of an eBay auction, in which the general public went head-to-head in a bidding war to snag a coveted seat aboard the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. An additional 20 seats were sold for $15,000 each. The weightless experience took place aboard G-FORCE ONE, a specially modified, FAA-approved, Boeing 727-200 aircraft which departed from Van Nuys Airport. The flight, identical to those used by NASA to train its astronauts, provided guests the chance to fly like Superman and flip like an Olympic gymnast, as ZERO-G creates Martian (1/3-gravity), Lunar (1/6-gravity) and zero gravity conditions over the course of 15 parabolic arcs.

“Entrepreneurs and innovators are creating technologies which are making spaceflight affordable…whether it is flying aboard a Zero-G flight, a sub-orbital flight into space, or a private flight to orbit. On Saturday’s weightless flight we gathered six X PRIZE Trustees and 20 philanthropists who believe we can use incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for humanity,” said Dr. Diamandis, who founded both the X PRIZE Foundation and Zero-G. “The funds raised during this flight will help us design and launch audacious future X PRIZEs which will help humanity expand beyond the bounds of Earth.”

The auction raised a total of $210,000 with all proceeds benefiting the X PRIZE Foundation – an educational, non-profit organization that spurs innovation and radical breakthroughs through incentivized competition. The Foundation focuses on four different areas: Life Sciences; Energy and the Environment; Education and Global Development; and Exploration (Space and Oceans). Last month, the Foundation awarded the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, a competition designed to inspire a new generation of viable, safe and super fuel-efficient vehicles capable of achieving 100 miles per gallon or the energy equivalent (MPGe).

“The rapid acceleration of technology is enabling small teams to conduct exploration that was only possible by national governments. The X PRIZE Foundation helps to set and incentivize audacious and worthy targets,” noted Cameron, Advisor on the X PRIZE Foundation’s Exploration Prize Committee. If AVATAR has created heightened interest on the importance of caring for our environment, science exploration and the potential for groundbreaking innovation then we have succeeded. These goals are in line with the mission of the X PRIZE Foundation.”

Participants experience microgravity aboard a Zero-G Corporation parabolic flight. (PRNewsFoto/Zero Gravity Corporation, Al Powers)

X Prize Founder Peter Diamandis just Tweeted:

“Flying into Zero G today with James Cameron, Jim Gianopulos, Craig Venter, Elon Musk and a number of X PRIZE trustees and donors!”

Cameron, of course, is the director of “Avatar.” Elon Musk is founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla Motors. Craig Venter is a venture capitalist and biologist best known for his pioneering work in sequencing the human genome and creating the first cell with a synthetic genome earlier. And Jim Gianopulos is co-chairman-CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment.

Last month, X Prize auctioned off three seats aboard a ZERO-G microgravity flight with Cameron on eBay for $30,000 as a fundraiser. The bidders were anonymous, and Diamandis promised there would be “alot of amazing VIPs on this flight.” So, it’s not clear exactly who paid for the tickets.

Participants experience microgravity aboard a Zero-G Corporation parabolic flight. (PRNewsFoto/Zero Gravity Corporation, Al Powers)

Two eBay auctions for seats aboard a microgravity flight with “Avatar” director James Cameron have raised $30,000 for the X PRIZE Foundation.

An auction for a single seat was won by bidder 2***3 for $10,000. Meanwhile, bidder r***r won a pair of two tickets for the bargain price of $20,000.

I can only assume that the asterisks either preserve the bidders’ privacy or hide some types of obscene expletives like 2f****3 (a menage-a-cinq??!!!) or rf*****r (I have no idea!).

In any event, congratulations to the lucky winners! You have bid enough to cover James Cameron’s $4,950-plus-tax ticket more than five times over. You are following in the proud footsteps of the winner of the X Prize’s earlier Win a Flight into Space With a Celebrity auction, who bid enough to cover Peter Diamandis’ $200,000 suborbital ticket aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

Cameron’s microgravity flight on ZERO G’s G-FORCE ONE Boeing 727 will take place from Van Nuys Airport in California on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. Diamandis is promising there will “alot of amazing VIPs on this flight.”

By my best calculation, director James Cameron’s PSA for NASA is roughly 31 seconds of “Avatar” footage coupled with another 37 seconds of information about the space agency and its Earth Sciences program.

I guess that’s not bad, actually.

The video’s unveiling corresponds with the long awaited re-relrease of “Avatar,” which apparently is even longer than the five minutes beyond forever length of the original that was in theaters oh….like, six months ago or something.

Perhaps they will come out with an extended version of this PSA in a few months with even more footage.

As you can probably tell, I’m not that keen on the movie. I thought it had brilliantly done special effects but that the plot was a mishmash of “Dances With Wolves,” “FernGully,” and the last act of “Return of the Jedi” only with dinosaurs instead of those annoying Ewoks. God, I hated those little furballs.

Oh, a really special shout-out to my lovely and talented niece, Stefanie, for the “FernGully” comparison. You’re the best, Stef!