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Asteroid mining and other big ideas

From space travel to utopian islands, business leaders have been known to throw money or support behind some forward-thinking or whimsical ideas. Here’s a look at some of them.

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Asteroid mining

This computer-generated image provided by Planetary Resources, a group of high-tech tycoons that wants to mine nearby asteroids, shows a conceptual rendering of a spacecraft preparing to capture a water-rich, near-Earth asteroid. The group's megamillion-dollar plan is to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals such as platinum and gold out of the lifeless rocks that routinely whiz by Earth. One of the company founders predicts that they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020. Some of the high-profile backers involved with this venture include Google Chief Executive Larry Page, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, director James Cameron and Ross Perot Jr.

AP / AP

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