That is not meant to be offensive; rather, it is a reflection of the fact that the business they entered into—mining asteroids for platinum and other precious metals—is a perilous one.
And so commercial asteroid mining seems like a stretch, and indeed, other similarly minded startups have come and gone.
But it turns out that I did hear from Acain and Gialich again about their asteroid mining venture, AstroForge.
“It’s not easy to ever raise for an asteroid mining company, right?
Making some mistakes In April 2023, the company launched a shoebox-sized cubesat, named the Brokkr-1 mission, on a SpaceX Transporter flight.
If successful, the Odin mission would be spectacular.
However, in March, the Odin spacecraft failed vibration testing.
Docking with an asteroid On Tuesday, the company also announced plans for its third mission, Vestri (the company is naming its missions after Norse deities).
I questioned whether I would ever speak with space entrepreneurs Jose Acain and Matt Gialich again when I had our first conversation with them a little over two years ago.
That’s not meant to be disrespectful; rather, it’s a reflection of how risky the business they went into—mining asteroids for platinum and other precious metals—is. The return of a few grams of rocky material from asteroids has cost NASA and other space agencies billions of dollars to date. NASA’s $14.4 billion Psyche mission, scheduled to launch in 2029, will mark the first time that humanity visits an asteroid rich in metals. Given that other like-minded startups have come and gone, commercial asteroid mining seems like a stretch.
However, it appears that I did receive another message from Acain and Gialich regarding their asteroid mining company, AstroForge. The co-founders revealed plans for their next two missions on Tuesday, along with the news that they had successfully raised $40 million in Series A funding. As of right now, AstroForge has raised $55 million in total.
Regarding the most recent fundraising campaign, Gialich stated in an interview that “it was challenging.”. Let’s be honest, raising money for an asteroid mining company is never easy. You informed us of this when we spoke two years ago. You weren’t mistaken either. The goal of this funding round was, therefore, to demonstrate to the public that spacecraft construction is feasible. “.
Making a few errors.
During a SpaceX Transporter flight in April 2023, the company launched the Brokkr-1 mission, a shoebox-sized cubesat. For a while, the vehicle operated as planned, but AstroForge was unable to provide the spacecraft with the commands it needed to begin demonstrating its technology for space-based refining.
Gialich did, however, mention that AstroForge is planning to launch a second spacecraft called Odin because it learned a lot from this mission. The Intuitive Machines-2 mission, scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of this year, will carry this payload as a rideshare. The Odin mission would be amazing if it succeeded. Odin’s goal is to fly past a near-Earth, metallic-rich asteroid and collect data, effectively making a “terra incognita” visit approximately seven months after launch. Odin would also be the first non-government mission to pass by a body outside of the Moon in the Solar System.
Developing the project has not been simple. When AstroForge first started developing this spacecraft, it did so primarily through horizontal integration, or outsourcing important components from suppliers, in the name of expediency. Nevertheless, vibration testing on the Odin spacecraft was unsuccessful in March. Gialich stated, “At first, our idea was to be different from SpaceX and be horizontally integrated, not vertically integrated.”. It was a grave error. There, we have made significant vertical changes. “. .
The original vehicle was supposed to withstand the rigors of launch, but AstroForge decided to use an internal spacecraft that was being developed for the company’s third flight for the Odin mission after the original vehicle failed vibration testing. By August 1st, the company needed to finish the vibration testing of the new, 100-kg Odin vehicle in order to stay on schedule for launch this year. AstroForge met the deadline, but before sending Odin to the launch pad, a few more tests need to be finished.
docking with a cometary body.
The company named its missions after Norse deities, and on Tuesday it also revealed plans for Vestri, its third mission. Its purpose is to return to the designated metallic asteroid and dock with it. It will be roughly twice as big as Odin. Vestri will utilise magnets to attach itself to the asteroid because it is probably iron-rich. This is the straightforward docking mechanism.
A mass spectrometer will be used once a week until the spacecraft malfunctions to sample and characterize the asteroid. 2025 will see Vestri’s launch on another Intuitive Machines mission, according to AstroForge. Vestri has lofty objectives because no private spacecraft has ever made a landing anywhere other than the Moon.
Gialich stated that AstroForge is monitoring multiple 400-meter-wide candidate asteroids as the target body for Odin and Vestri. It will take him a few months to make up his mind. The company is unwilling to reveal its identity in response to possible rivals, such as Origin Space, a company based in China.
Still, there’s no lack of worthy targets. An astronomical unit is the distance between the Sun and Earth, and scientists estimate that there are roughly 10 million near-Earth asteroids. There are potentially hundreds of thousands of candidates for mining out of these, since 3 to 5 percent are rich in metals.
