AstroForge is planning its first private asteroid mining mission

AstroForge has announced an ambitious commercial mission to observe a distant asteroid — an important step for a California startup as it strives to become the world’s first deep-space miner.

AstroForge seeks to capitalize on the rapid development of the spaceflight industry to become the first mineral mining company in deep space. California startup He raised $13 million in seed funding last year– first year of existence – and now it’s officially here announce Two mining-related missions scheduled to be launched during the calendar year. The company is collaborating with several other companies to make this happen, including OrbAstro, Dawn Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines.

Space is the place, as Sun Ra famously said, and it certainly has a lot to offer, including rare earth metals like platinum, gold, iridium, palladium, and osmium, among others. The material can be found on a single asteroid bringing in trillions of dollars, making asteroid mining a tantalizing prospect. This idea has been around for decades, however Expensive costs Associated with the endeavor made it pretty much impossible. But that’s changing, as launching rockets and manufacturing satellites and spacecraft has never been more expensive.

AstroForge targets platinum group metals, or PGMs, which are used in a variety of industries. For example, the precious rare earth metal palladium is used in catalytic converters, which is why these automotive components are often targeted by thieves. Matt Gialich, CEO and co-founder of AstroForge, said: statment.

More on this story: California startup raises $13 million to harvest platinum from asteroids

The first of two AstroForge missions is scheduled to launch in April. A SpaceX Falcon 9 6U rocket will launch cubes pre-packed with asteroid-like material. Working in Earth orbit, OrbAstro-built cubesat will attempt to vaporize and sort materials into their elemental components.

The second mission, scheduled for release in October, raises the stakes. Falcon 9 flight sharing mission legal By Intuitive Machines will attempt to send a spacecraft, called Brokkr-2, to an asteroid in orbit around the sun located 22 million miles (35.4 million kilometers) away. Brokkr-2, based on OrbAstro’s ORB-50 satellite bus, will monitor the target asteroid from a distance in preparation for the company’s first bona fide asteroid recovery mission. When the time is right, AstroForge intends to target asteroids between 66 and 4,920 feet (20 to 1,500 meters) in diameter and instead of landing on objects, it will scrape asteroids from a distance and collect valuable aggregate material.

OrbAstro, with offices in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Germany, is building the 220-pound (100-kilogram) Brokkr-2 probe, which will carry a range of payloads associated with the asteroid space assessment. Powered by the Dawn Aerospace propulsion system and powered by lunar gravity assist, Brokkr-2 will reach the target asteroid after an eight-month journey, according to OrbAstro.

Whether deep space asteroid mining will prove to be a sustainable and profitable venture remains an unanswered question, but real attempts to make it happen are now officially underway. I have no qualms about exploiting distant asteroids, which serve no useful purpose because they orbit the sun. Moreover, mining on land can be unequivocally harmful, as it damages ecosystems, destroys life and landscapes, and leads to the production of greenhouse gases.s.

The problem with asteroid mining is what it can do to Earth, whether it be the damage imposed by the excessive number of rocket launches, the processing of this material in factories, and the multitude of new products destined for landfills. Whether you are for or against asteroid mining, or just… mixed feelingsObviously, we need to have these conversations.