Can Ross Perot Jr. and the Google Founders Save the Earth from Obama, Putin, Castro, etc.?

There is no better way for a $billionaire to become a $trillionaire than by breaking through into a lucrative space enterprise -- by exploiting a new frontier. The table below lists a number of super-rich individuals who would like to bring about a brave new future in outer space and elsewhere, and to hopefully profit by doing so.

Wired Now Ross Perot Jr. -- the son of the billionaire former US presidential candidate -- and the founders of Google, are getting involved with a few other investors in a new space venture, which may have the goal of mining the asteroids.

On Tuesday, a new company called Planetary Resources will announce its existence at the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery at The Museum of Flight in Seattle. It's not clear what the firm does, but its roster of backers incudes Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, filmmaker James Cameron, former Microsoftie (and space philanthropist) Charles Simonyi, and Ross Perot Jr., son of the former presidential candidate. According to the company's press release (below):

[...] the company 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’.

That sounds like asteroid mining. Because what else is there in space that we need here on earth? _TechnologyReview

While details of the new company, called Planetary Resources, Inc., have been kept secret, officials familiar with the firm said that “the company will overlay two critical sectors — space exploration and natural resources — to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP,” according to media reports on April 18.
As well as support from Cameron, director of blockbuster movies Avatar and Titanic, the company is being backed by Google cofounders Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, former Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi, and Ross Perot Jr., son of former presidential candidate Ross Perot.
Planetary Resources Inc. was co-founded by commercial space pioneers Peters Diamandis and Eric Anderson. Diamandis is chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, which offers prizes for technological feats. He is also co-founder of Zero-G Corporation, which offers commercial flights to experience weightlessness aboard a modified Boeing 727-200 jet. Anderson is the chairman and co-founder of Space Adventures, a multi-million-dollar flight company that offers space flights to the International Space Station for private citizens, such as Simonyi, who flew to the ISS twice with Space Adventures, most recently in 2009, which cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $35 million.
Tuesday’s event will also include former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki and planetary scientist and veteran NASA astronaut Tom Jones, PhD. The conference will begin at 10:30 a.m. and be available online via webcast. Tickets to the event cost $25.

When Planetary Resources reveals its plans next week, it will be the second billionaire-backed private space company launched within the last six months. _RedOrbit

More from Forbes
Brian Wang at NextBigFuture is likely to provide more details as they become available

There are very few true frontiers, beyond the deadening influence of autocrats and would-be autocrats such as Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, Hugo Chavez, and the rest of the usual suspects who are seemingly dedicated to preventing an abundant and open ended human future.

But it is the frontiers where truly revolutionary change is likely to be generated. Humans have been tied down by the political forces of stasis for most of their modern existence. A bit of frontier excitement seems long overdue.

More: Brian Westenhaus weighs in on the promise of asteroid mining