Planetary Resources plans to use these telescopes to find and prospect the asteroids they hope to mine, but they're making one available for the general public's use as well. Planetary Resources says that they will provide the telescope itself free of charge, but they have begun a kickstarter campaign to pay for the telescope's launch, operation, and interface.
They're looking to raise a million dollars to pay for these costs, and then cover the rest out of the company's pocket. Well a million dollars may seem like a rather low figure for the launch of a spacecraft and the development of it's interface, it should be noted that the ARKYD 100 is a very small spacecraft. at only 15 kg, it's light enough to easily lift, even on Earth, it's only 20 cm wide and tall, and only 35 cm when stowed. In orbit it will extend to 42.5 cm long, and it's solar panels will stretch to 60 cm, barely over half a meter.
The crowdfunding model is being used very successfully for this project, with numerous rewards being offered, including the ablity to aim the telescope at objects of your choosing, have it display and take a photo of a photo of you, or have your name engraved on the spacecraft. (It all depends on how much you want to give.)
When I first read about this project a little over an hour ago, they had raised $64,000, at the time I hit "publish" they have raised $111,000, it seems highly likely that they will meet and exceed their goal.
Here is their official video, including endorsements from notable figures like Richard Bronson of Virgin Galatic, and Hank Green, of Sci-Show and Crash Course.
If you want to back the project, and maybe take a picture of a picture of you in space, here's a link to their kickstarter campaign with more details.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1458134548/arkyd-a-space-telescope-for-everyone-0?ref=pripage_home
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