Asteroid-mining company Deep Space Industries has just announced plans to launch a fleet of "FireFly" spacecraft as soon as 2015. Their mission? Find asteroids, rich with valuable metals, that could aid in humanity's colonization of space.

A recently announced space venture backed by James Cameron, Google executives, and others isn't scheduled to formally announce its plans until later today, but as of late last night, the news is official: Planetary Resources, Inc. is fixing to do some asteroid-mining. Here's everything we know about the venture so far. …

James Cameron, Google founders Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and Ross Perot, Jr. are just a few of the big names backing a brand new space exploration company called Planetary Resources, that next Tuesday will "unveil a new space venture with a mission to help ensure humanity's prosperity."