Luxembourg’s Crown Prince Guillaume and Deputy Prime Minister Étienne Schneider will be leading a delegation from the tiny European nation on a trip to the Seattle area on Monday. The main attraction? Asteroid mining, of course. Last year, Planetary Resources struck a deal for $28 million in investment and grants from Luxembourg’s government and bankers. Planetary Resources, based in Redmond, Wash., is developing spacecraft for Earth observation as well as asteroid exploration and mining. By some accounts, mining asteroids for water and other space resources could turn into a multitrillion-dollar industry. That fits in with Luxembourg’s SpaceResources.lu initiative – which will be in the spotlight in Seattle.
