Planet Prospectors

The Planet Prospectors Program is an initiative for encouraging exploration of unknown planets. Participants pay a fee to join, and are given a planet from a list of known or suspected habitable planets provided by astronomical societies. The participant then has the obligation to explore the planet, first from orbit. If the planet appears to be inhabited by either intelligent or biologically significant species, the PPP notifies official diplomatic and/or scientific teams to explore the planet more rigorously, and the original prospector is given a new planet to explore. If, however, orbital observations by the prospector indicate no sensitive life, the prospector may explore the surface of the planet, and, upon providing sufficient proof that no such sensitive or significant life exists, may name and claim the planet and exploit its resources. So, in this sense it is a lottery in which citizen scientists front the cost to explore planets at the possibility of a planet full of resources.