(Photo: Deep Space Industries)

Rocket scientists are cool--have you seen that NASA mohawk guy?--but with the growth of the commercial space industry, they were bound to get eclipsed by swashbuckling adventurers with a mind for intergalactic exploration. Enter the Asteroid Hunter, the newest position of badassery, second only to the child who came to our house dressed as "half unicorn, half rockstar" on Halloween.

Kurzweil AI reports that commercial asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries has announced a plan to launch ships into space to mine nearby asteroids for resources that could help accelerate Earth's development. It's the first mission of its kind, and bound to conjure Indiana-Jones-meets-Captain-Picard fantasies in anyone with a space hero complex.

"More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every year," Deep Space CEO David Gump told Space.com. "They can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit car industry last century — a key resource located near where it was needed. In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the in-space industries of this century. That is our strategy."

The first asteroid hunter spacecraft will be deployed by 2015. That gives us all two years to start training to become asteroid hunters startingggg ... NOW. Race you to Astrophysics 101 on Coursera!