Arkyd-100

Lore & Background

Only two test satellites were ever launched by Planetary Resources: Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R) in 2015 and Arkyd-6 in 2018. The Arkyd-100 itself never reached orbit. Following financial troubles, ConsenSys acquired Planetary Resources' intellectual property and some assets in October 2018. The intellectual property was later made available under an open-source license, not placed into the public domain. The remaining hardware assets were auctioned off in June 2020.

Reader's Guide

The Arkyd-100 represents a key early attempt to commercialize small, low-cost space telescopes for both Earth observation and asteroid prospecting. Although the satellite was never launched, its development reflected a broader shift in the space industry toward smaller, more affordable spacecraft. The project also highlighted the challenges of funding ambitious space ventures, as Planetary Resources struggled to secure investment despite initial public interest and a successful Kickstarter campaign. The Arkyd-100's legacy lies in its role as a precursor to later small satellite constellations and in demonstrating the technical and financial hurdles of asteroid mining. The eventual release of Planetary Resources' intellectual property into the public domain in 2020 made the company's designs and research freely available, potentially influencing future space resource initiatives.

Did You Know?

• A Kickstarter campaign for the Arkyd-100 surpassed its goal on 19 June 2013, but was terminated with refunds promised in May 2016 due to lack of funding.
• The Arkyd-100 was part of a planned constellation called Ceres, which was to use ten Arkyd-100 satellites for Earth observation and asteroid surveying.
• Only two test satellites (Arkyd 3 Reflight and Arkyd-6) were ever launched by Planetary Resources; the Arkyd-100 never reached orbit.

Origins & the Arkyd-100 Vision

Arkyd Astronautics was established on January 1, 2009, with Peter Diamandis serving as co-chairman and Chris Lewicki as president and chief engineer. Co-founder Eric C. Anderson later explained that the company's name was intentionally vague, a deliberate strategy to obscure its true mission of asteroid mining from public view. The Arkyd-100 was conceived not as a mining vessel but as a modest 30-to-50-kilogram orbital telescope designed for Earth observation and astronomy. A key engineering choice was replacing traditional radio-frequency antennas with a laser-optical ground communication system, which would trim payload mass and bulk. The broader strategy was sequential: first, sell or deploy these compact telescopes to build a customer market and validate the platform; second, repurpose the same imaging and survey capabilities to catalog and study near-Earth asteroids. This two-phase approach positioned the Arkyd-100 as both a commercial product and the foundational technology for what the company ultimately hoped to achieve—extracting raw materials from beyond Earth's atmosphere.

The Road to Orbit: Test Satellites & Setbacks

The Arkyd-100's journey toward flight was marked by setbacks and patient rescheduling. The first CubeSat testbed, Arkyd-3, was lost on October 28, 2014, when the Antares resupply rocket it rode exploded seconds after liftoff. A replacement, Arkyd 3 Reflight, eventually reached orbit aboard SpaceX's CRS-6 mission on April 17, 2015, and was released from the International Space Station through the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on July 16, 2015. The second satellite, Arkyd 6, experienced a considerably longer wait. Originally slated for late 2015, then rescheduled to April 2016, and later assigned to a SpaceX vehicle, it finally reached orbit on January 12, 2018, carried by India's PSLV-C40 rocket. These two small spacecraft served as technology demonstrators, validating subsystems intended for the full Arkyd-100 platform. Despite their successful orbital insertion, neither satellite represented the full-scale telescope the company had envisioned; they were proof-of-concept steps in a program that never quite reached its intended operational maturity.

Partnerships, Funding & the Ceres Ambition

Throughout 2013, Arkyd Astronautics—at that point a subsidiary of Planetary Resources—attracted a constellation of high-profile backers. Bechtel Corporation joined as both investor and collaborative partner, while 3D Systems committed capital with plans to apply additive manufacturing to Arkyd spacecraft components. Virgin Galactic agreed to provide multiple LauncherOne launch slots for the Arkyd-100 series. A Kickstarter campaign launched in May 2013 surpassed its funding goal by June 19, though the campaign was ultimately terminated with refunds promised in May 2016. In May 2016, the company secured $21.1 million in Series A funding earmarked for a ten-satellite Earth-observation constellation called Ceres, each unit featuring an arc-second resolution camera. That November, Luxembourg contributed €25 million in capital and research grants, a move aligned with its newly drafted legislation granting private operators rights to space-mined materials. By mid-2016 the company employed roughly 60 people, yet a firm launch date for the first full Arkyd satellite remained elusive.

Financial Collapse & the Public-Domain Legacy

The company's trajectory reversed sharply in early 2018. A planned investment from an unnamed mining enterprise fell through due to budgetary constraints, and the anticipated funding round failed to close. The consequence was immediate: layoffs were announced, and the first asteroid prospecting mission—previously targeted for a 2020 launch—was pushed back indefinitely. On October 31, 2018, ConsenSys, a blockchain software firm, purchased the company's human assets, effectively ending Planetary Resources as an independent entity. The final chapter unfolded quickly. In May 2020, ConsenSys released all Planetary Resources intellectual property into the public domain, making the Arkyd-100's design documentation and related technology freely accessible to anyone. By June 2020, the remaining hardware assets had been auctioned off. What began as a secretive 2009 venture with a deliberately ambiguous name ended as a cautionary tale of ambition outpacing capital, yet its technical legacy—particularly the laser-communication architecture and compact telescope philosophy—was preserved for the broader space community to build upon.