Against all odds, an asteroid mining company appears to be making headway

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the challenges and progress of AstroForge, a startup company founded by Jose Acain and Matt Gialich, that is working on mining asteroids for precious metals. It covers their recent $40 million Series A funding, their initial failed Brokkr-1 mission, and their upcoming Odin and Vestri missions to visit and potentially dock with metal-rich asteroids.

🙋 Q&A

[01] AstroForge's Asteroid Mining Venture

1. What were the initial challenges faced by AstroForge in their asteroid mining venture?

• The article notes that the business of mining asteroids for platinum and other precious metals is a perilous one, with NASA and other space agencies spending billions to return only a few grams of rocky material from asteroids so far.
• It was challenging for AstroForge to raise funding for their asteroid mining company, as the co-founders acknowledged that it is "not easy to ever raise for an asteroid mining company."

2. How did AstroForge learn from their initial Brokkr-1 mission failure?

• The Brokkr-1 cubesat mission launched in April 2023 was unable to demonstrate AstroForge's space-based refining technology as planned, due to an inability to send the necessary commands to the spacecraft.
• However, the co-founders stated that AstroForge learned a lot from this mission and is working towards launching their second spacecraft, Odin, later this year.

[02] AstroForge's Upcoming Odin and Vestri Missions

1. What are the goals and challenges of AstroForge's Odin mission?

• The Odin mission, scheduled to launch in Q4 2023, will attempt to fly by a near-Earth, metal-rich asteroid and capture images and data - making it the first private mission to fly by a body in the Solar System beyond the Moon.
• To remain on track for the 2023 launch, AstroForge had to complete vibration testing of the new 100-kg Odin vehicle by August 1 and still must complete several other tests before shipping it to the launch pad.

2. What are the plans and ambitions for AstroForge's Vestri mission?

• The Vestri spacecraft, about twice the size of Odin, is intended to return to the targeted metallic asteroid and dock with it using magnets, as the asteroid is likely to be iron-rich.
• Vestri's goals include using a mass spectrometer to sample and characterize the asteroid weekly until the spacecraft fails. This would be highly ambitious, as no private spacecraft has ever landed on a body beyond the Moon.
• AstroForge is tracking several candidate asteroids about 400 meters across as potential targets for the Odin and Vestri missions, but is not revealing the final selection to avoid tipping off potential competitors.