🚀 New company aims for groundbreaking asteroid mining

• AstroForge has secured $40 million in funding for asteroid mining.
• The company plans two missions: Odin to pass by an asteroid and Vestri to land on one.
• AstroForge aims to be the first to commercially explore metal-rich asteroids.

Successful funding despite challenges

AstroForge, a company focused on asteroid mining, has managed to secure $40 million in a funding round. The total funding now amounts to $55 million, according to ArsTechnica.

Jose Acain and Matt Gialich admitted that the funding process was demanding. "It's not easy to ever raise for an asteroid mining company, right?" he said.

An important part of the funding round was to show investors that the company can actually build spacecraft.

Lessons from previous missions

In April 2023, AstroForge launched Brokkr-1, a cubesat the size of a shoebox. Although the spacecraft flew as planned for a while, they couldn't send necessary commands to demonstrate their space-based technology.

The company learned important lessons from this mission and is now working on launching a second spacecraft named Odin, planned for the last quarter of this year.

If the mission succeeds, it will be a milestone. About seven months after launch, Odin will attempt to pass by a nearby, metal-rich asteroid while taking pictures and collecting data. This would make Odin the first private space mission to pass a celestial body beyond the Moon.

The development of Odin has faced obstacles. After the original spacecraft failed vibration tests, AstroForge decided to use a self-developed craft. It successfully passed vibration testing before the August 1 deadline.

Vestri: Next step in asteroid exploration

AstroForge has also revealed plans for its third mission, Vestri. This spacecraft will be about twice the size of Odin and is meant to return to the metallic asteroid and land on it. The landing method is simple - since the asteroid is likely rich in iron, Vestri will use magnets to attach itself to it.

The plan is to use a mass spectrometer to take samples and analyze the asteroid every week until the spacecraft stops functioning. AstroForge aims to launch Vestri in 2025.

Possible exploration targets

AstroForge is considering several asteroid candidates as possible targets for Odin and Vestri, each about 400 meters in diameter. The final decision will be made in a few months. Scientists estimate that there are about 10 million near-Earth asteroids, which come within an astronomical distance from our planet. About 3 to 5 percent of these are rich in metals, potentially providing hundreds of thousands of candidates for mining.

Also read the Optimist's Edge article about asteroid mining.

💡 Optimist’s Edge: In space we have all the minerals we need

The Earth’s resources are limited. But not far away from our planet, there is an abundance. Asteroid mining is becoming increasingly feasible – in this article, you get an Edge on what lies ahead.

Warp NewsVincent Roose

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