Students Launch $25 Million Crowdfunding Campaign to Offer Everyone on Earth a Digital Ride via Spacecraft to Mars for Only 99-Cents

Future space travelers are encouraged to join the Time Capsule to Mars Mission, which allows anyone to upload a digital photo for only $0.99 cents that will be uploaded to a spacecraft and sent to Mars

Students Launch $25 Million Crowdfunding Campaign to Offer Everyone in the World a Digital Chance to Make the Journey to Mars for Only $0.99-Cents Each

By Robert Hoskins

Washington, DC – Today, the Time Capsule to Mars (TC2M), a project of Explore Mars, plans to make history by connecting humanity’s shared history with a shared destiny by allowing anyone to upload a digital photo for only $0.99 cents that will be sent to Mars via the world’s 1st Ion-ElectroSpray Propulsion Cube Satellite (CubeSat).

Students Plan to Raise $25 Million to Send Time Capsule to Mars by Launching the 1st Ion-ElectroSpray Propulsion Cube Satellite

The TC2M payload will carry digital messages from tens of millions of people from all corners of Earth in the form of text, images, audio and video clips.  The state-of-the-art “time capsule” will carry a crucible of today’s human race – to be rediscovered by future colonists of the Red Planet. Time Capsule to Mars™ intends to :

• Enable tens of millions of people from every country on Earth to upload their pictures, short movies, text messages and other digital media to the time capsule.
• Click here now to upload your digital payload to be sent to Mars.
• Inspire and educate K-12-aged kids worldwide by enabling them to upload their content, track their spacecraft and lander, and participate via personalized Mission Control portals on the Internet.
• Be the first private mission to Mars, the first student-led interplanetary mission, the first use of CubeSats for interplanetary travel, and the first trial of many advanced new technologies.
• Unite Humanity under one mission, so we can travel together to Mars as one race, in the spirit of global cooperation and peace.

Mars Mission Technology Payload

Our technical teams are focused on designing, launching, and sending a CubeSat-based spacecraft to Mars — and landing on the surface a time capsule encoded with Humanity’s memories. Spacecraft will:

• Consist of multiple CubeSat Class (0.3m x 0.4m x 0.1m) segments
• Be propelled by revolutionary ion Electrospray propulsion, pioneered by MIT’s Space Propulsion Lab.
• Deploy new technologies like inflatable antennae, deep space Internet communications, and novel interplanetary radiation sensors.
• Be designed and constructed by technical teams from the world’s leading universities and student groups — and mentored by the space industries’ best engineering talent.

Mars Mission Crowdfunding Budget

The estimated cost of this mission is $25 million, which will cover all costs from design, to launch, to flight communications and vehicle control, to landing on Mars.

• We need your help to make this the largest crowdfunded effort in history!
• Uploads in the Developed World will cost $0.99; uploads in the Developing World will be free of charge for basic uploads, thanks to generous sponsorships that will be announced soon. We want everyone on Earth to have an equal chance to participate in this grand planet-wide mission.
• The size, scope, and length of this project will require a continuous and stable flow of funds for which we will also rely on corporate donations.
• Click here to sponsor the first package delivered to Mars.

Seeking Mars Mission Partners

This mission will aggressively partner with news, industry, and educational outlets to maximize our reach and enable us to tap into a truly global audience.

• We want to involve all people of Earth — of all ages, backgrounds, and interests — encompassing the entire scope of Humanity and documenting Humankind in the process.
• A focus market for educational engagement will include K-12-aged kids from all over the world.
• We will virtually bring them along on the journey — from uploading their picture, tracing its progression through our Solar System, and right up to their landing on Mars.
• Click here to see the Time Capsule to Mars Mission Management Team.

Time Capsule to Mars Press Conference

The project’s management team, which includes members from Duke University, MIT’s Space Propulsion Lab, Explore Mars, and retired NASA astronauts held a press conference tomorrow at 1:30 pm Eastern time in at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. This following is the recorded version.

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More Mars Mission Press Coverage:

• NBC: ‘Time Capsule to Mars’ Kicks Off $25 Million Crowdfunding Campaign
• Triangle Business Journal: Lockheed Martin intern Emily Briere is launching a mission to Mars. Ticket price? 99 cents
• Boston Globe: MIT students seek to send slivers of life to Mars
• SilicanAngle: The next mission to Mars will be funded by selfies
• National Geographic: Q&A: How a College Student Will Send a Time Capsule to Mars
• Space.com: Student-Led ‘Time Capsule to Mars’ Funding $25M Mission by Flying Photos
• Yahoo/LiveScience: These Students Want to Send a Time Capsule to Mars
• UCONN: UConn Students to Help Build Time Capsule to Mars
• Natural World News: Capsule Project Will Get a Digital Scrapbook on Mars
• The Verge: Earth will bombard Mars with videos, photos, and messages in 2017
• Crowdfunding PR: Students Launch $25M Crowdfunding Campaign to Offer Everyone on Earth a Digital Ride via Spacecraft to Mars for Only 99-Cents
• Science & Enterprise: Student Project Aims to Land Time Capsule on Mars

 

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PeoplesVC.com Equity Crowdfunding Platform Partners with MIT Enterprise Forum to begin Marketing High-Tech Equity Investment Deals

New marketing agreement strives to bring early stage, high technology equity investment deals to all Americans in the United States

By Robert Hoskins

For decades the The MIT Enterprise Forum, one of the preeminent organization of entrepreneurs in the global innovation economy, has been nurturing emerging technology startups into thriving businesses providing investors with prime investment opportunities.

PeoplesVC.com Equity Crowdfunding Platform Partners with MIT Enterprise Forum to begin Marketing High Technoloy Equity Investment Deals to the Average American

And for the past 80 years, 99% of Americans have been forbidden from investing in early stage, privately held companies, on the premise that such investments should be limited to the super wealthy.

But today things are changing.  Securities-based Crowdfunding, which is expected to begin in late 2014 or early 2015, will open up early stage investing to all Americans, giving them access to investment opportunities previously monopolized traditional venture capital and high net-worth investors.

PeoplesVC, an equity-based Crowdfunding Company headquartered in Peterborough, New Hampshire, is democratizing Venture Capital and early stage investing, by creating a platform that will allow all Americans to access prized deals.

Through a sponsorship with the MIT Enterprise Forum, PeoplesVC seeks to identify promising emerging high technology startups and help these companies raise capital from the general public.

“I am excited about the prospect of opening up investment opportunities in promising high technology companies to all Americans,” commented Akhil Garland, CEO of PeoplesVC, Inc, “a new wave of capital formation is coming, and it is thrilling to help create new, meaningful jobs in our country,” Garland added.

“I am delighted to welcome PeoplesVC as our newest partner in serving the needs of entrepreneurs and early stage privately held companies,” commented Lesa Lassard Pearson, Executive Director, MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge,  “PeoplesVC will bring a new perspective to the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge and I look forward to seeing how that perspective plays out in our community,” Pearson added.

Peoples Venture Capital (Peoples VC) was founded to create American jobs by harnessing the power of the Internet and social networking and serving as a catalyst for rapid change, jobs growth, and innovation.

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Get a Glimpse of Crowdfunding’s Power to Fund Public Access to the ARKYD Deep Space Telescope for Students, Scientists and Astronomers

Help Planetary Resources Fund an Immersive Educational Curriculum that Will Allow for More Access  by Students, Classrooms, Museums and Science Learning Centers

By Robert Hoskins

 Planetary Resources, Inc. launched a campaign to produce the world’s first crowdfunded deep space telescope to provide unprecedented public access to space and place the most advanced exploration technology into the hands of students, scientists and a new generation of citizen star gazers and astronomers.

Help Planetary Resources Fund an Immersive Educational Curriculum that Will Allow for More Access for Students, Classrooms, Museums and Science Learning Centers

Planetary Resources’ technical team, who worked on every recent U.S. Mars lander and rover, will provide direct access to an ARKYD space telescope making space widely available for inspiration, exploration and research. “I’ve operated rovers and landers on Mars, and now I can share that incredible experience with everyone. People of any age and background will be able to point the telescope outward to investigate our Solar System, deep space, or join us in our study of near-Earth asteroids,” said Chris Lewicki , President and Chief Engineer, Planetary Resources, Inc.

Using Kickstarter, a platform for supporting innovative projects, Planetary Resources has set a campaign goal of US$1 million. The company will use the proceeds to launch the telescope, fund the creation of the public interface, cover the fulfillment costs for all of the products and services listed in the pledge levels, and fund the immersive educational curriculum for students everywhere. Any proceeds raised beyond the goal will allow for more access to classrooms, museums and science centers, and additional use by individual Kickstarter backers.

Peter H. Diamandis , M.D., Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Planetary Resources, Inc. said, “When we launched Planetary Resources last year, we had an extraordinary response from the general public. Tens of thousands of people contacted us and wanted to be involved. We are using this Kickstarter campaign as a mechanism to engage the community in a productive way.” Diamandis added, “In the last 50 years, space exploration has been led by national governmental agencies with their own set of priorities; and now we’re changing the nature of exploration. We’re developing the most advanced space technology ever made available to the public.  Let’s explore the cosmos together!”

Eric Anderson , Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Planetary Resources, Inc. said, “Since the public announcement of Planetary Resources last April, the company has doubled in size, brought on key strategic partners, was awarded numerous contracts and is on track for its primary mission of identifying and prospecting asteroids within this decade.”

Pledge Level Highlights:

• Your Face in Space – the #SpaceSelfie:   For US$25, the team will upload an image of the campaign backer’s choice to display on the ARKYD, snap a photo of it with the Earth in the background, and transmit it to the backer. This space ‘photo booth’ allows anyone to take (or gift) a unique Space Selfie image that connects a personal moment with the cosmos in an unprecedented, yet tangible way.
• Explore the Cosmos: Higher pledge levels provide students, astronomers and researchers with access to the ARKYD main optic for detailed observations of the cosmos, galaxies, asteroids and our Solar System.
• Support Education Worldwide: At the highest levels, pledgers can offer the K-12 school, science center, university, or any interested group of their choice access to the ARKYD for use in interactive educational programming to strengthen STEM education worldwide. The full pledge list and ARKYD technical specifications can be found here. 

Sara Seager , Ph.D., Professor of Physics and Planetary Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said, “The ARKYD crowdfunding campaign is extraordinary. Not only does the telescope have the technical capability to increase our understanding of space, but it can be placed in orbit for an incredibly low cost. That is an economic breakthrough that will accelerate space-based research now and in the future.”

Planetary Resources is joined in this adventure by a large group of campaign supporters including the Museum of Flight, Griffith Observatory, Liberty Science Center, Museum of Science and Industry, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Virgin Galactic and The Planetary Society. Bill Nye the Science Guy, CEO of The Planetary Society noted, “It’s a fantastic convergence of spacecraft technology and crowdfunding. Students everywhere can get involved – around the world and now above the world.”

The campaign will run for 33 days and end on June 30, 2013.  Detailed information regarding the campaign is available on the Kickstarter website.

Planetary Resources, Inc. was founded in 2009 by Eric Anderson and Dr. Peter H. Diamandis .  Our vision is to establish a new paradigm for resource utilization that will bring the Solar System within humanity’s economic sphere of influence.  The company will conduct low-cost robotic space exploration beginning with the Arkyd Series of space missions that will identify the most commercially viable near-Earth asteroids. These initial missions will assist the company in enabling the retrieval of raw materials from these select asteroids, including water, precious metals and more.

Planetary Resources is financed by industry-launching visionaries, three of whom include Google’s CEO Larry Page & Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt ; and Ross Perot, Jr. , Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group; who are committed to expanding the world’s resource base so humanity can continue to grow and prosper for centuries to come.  Some of the company’s partners and advisors include the Bechtel Corporation; film maker and explorer James Cameron ; former Chief of Staff, United States Air Force General T. Michael Moseley (Ret.); and Sara Seager , Ph.D., Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at MIT. Members of the company’s technical staff have worked on every recent U.S. Mars lander including Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity, and include other key non-aerospace and safety-critical disciplines.

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