Planetary Resources wants you to be an asteroid mining intern

Iridium Communications ($6 billion satellite communications start-up that went bankrupt in the 90s) feels a lot like what planetary resources may become (pie-in-the-sky thinking, dodgy business model, poor foreseeable uptake for the next few decades):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_Communications

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/down-to-earth-rea...

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1...

http://fail92fail.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/story-of-iridium/

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2000/03/35043

Start-ups like these give me a Jurassic Park awe inspiring feeling (which I love) but I must say I'm doubtful because the Mars forcing function (i.e. colonists on Mars) does not exist and it's just cheaper to mine less rich ore down on Earth than to go into space.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.