Planetary Resources is pulling the plug on its Earth observatory satellite network

Space startup Planetary Resources is killing its nascent Earth observation system, Ceres, opting to focus on its core mission of asteroid mining.Planetary Resources announced its the project in May 2016, saying that it would spend $21.1 million to equip 10 Arkyd satellites with sensors to observe the Earth’s surface. The company hoped to use the network to monitor water quality, locate new mineral sources, or find other uses that weren’t easily served by existing satellite services.