Planetary Resources is set to launch its first satellite Oct. 24, a significant step in the Redmond company's ambitious goal of mining precious metals and water from asteroids.
The first satellite Arkyd 3 satellite won't do any of that, however.
It won't carry mining equipment or even a camera. At just 14 inches long and 4 inches wide, its purpose is to test the company's software systems, computer, and its rocket motor.
The launch date was announced by Chris Voorhees, Planetary's vice president of space development, at a Seattle conference last week on defense, space and security.
It is several months behind the July launch date mentioned last year by Planetary Resources President Chris Lewicki.
Voorhees said the first satellite will go up on Orbital Sciences Antares launch vehicle, scheduled to bring supplies to the International Space Station. The small Planetary satellite will be a secondary payload on that flight.
Voorhees said Planetary's goal, to extract minerals and water from asteroids, can be a critical part of future space exploration.
Water is important because it can be broken into hydrogen and oxygen, and used as fuel. One water-rich asteroid could have powered the flights of all the space shuttles, he said.
"It's not any crazier than extracting oil 15,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico," Voorhees said at the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference at the Museum of Flight.
Planetary has been building the Akryd 3 at its headquarters in Redmond.
The launch is being coordinated by Spaceflight Services, a Tukwila company that brokers space for small satellites on large launch vehicles.
"Planetary is a great customer of ours. We're always happy to be part of their launches," said Spaceflight spokeswoman Melissa Wuerl.
The next step, now scheduled for the third quarter of 2015, is to be the launch of a larger Arkyd satellite, outfitted with a telescope and camera.
That satellite, partly funded by a 2013 crowd-funding campaign, will take selfie photos from orbit of those people who contributed.
Planetary raised more than $1.5 million from 17,600 donors for that satellite, and more than 16,000 of those donors will have their selfies taken in space.
The camera technology is the key to how the company plans to locate asteroids with materials worth mining.