AstroForge, founded in 2022, is a pioneering space mining company focused on extracting and returning valuable metals, particularly platinum-group metals, from asteroids. They aim to reduce reliance on Earth-based resources and establish a sustainable presence in space, potentially offering superior profit margins compared to traditional mining. AstroForge is developing spacecraft and technologies for asteroid prospecting, extraction, and in-situ resource utilization, securing the first commercial deep space spectrum license from the FCC. Their major partners include SpaceX and Intuitive Machines, utilizing their launch services for missions like Odin, a spacecraft designed to image target asteroids.
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Astroforge has built a system to game-plan multiple asteroid destinations so it can pivot quickly if a launch slips.
Astroforge says it would need to spend about $160 million before attempting an asteroid mission if it bought both an $80 million spaceship and an $80 million rocket purchase.
Astroforge’s first deep-space mission cost $3.5 million.
Astroforge says it must be target-agnostic when planning asteroid missions.
Astroforge says regulations prevent its spacecraft from riding on government launches.
AstroForge developed its first asteroid reconnaissance mission called Odin.
AstroForge announced that Odin would visit the near-Earth asteroid 2022 OB5.
AstroForge raised $55 million to date, including $40 million in a Series A round last August.
AstroForge had previously collaborated with smallsat manufacturer OrbAstro to build Odin.
AstroForge's senior policy advisor, Steven Place, recommended that the government act as the 'offtaker of last resort' for space mining companies.
AstroForge is working on a new spacecraft called Vestri, targeted for launch on the IM-3 mission in early 2026.
AstroForge spent $3.5 million on the Odin spacecraft.
Matt Gialich is the cofounder and CEO of AstroForge.
AstroForge's Odin spacecraft was intended to fly as a secondary payload on the Falcon 9 launch of Intuitive Machines' IM-2 lunar lander.
AstroForge launched its first spacecraft, a 6U cubesat called Brokkr-1, on the Transporter-7 rideshare mission in April.
AstroForge plans to launch the Odin spacecraft as a rideshare payload on Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 lunar lander mission in 2024.
AstroForge is developing a second spacecraft originally called Brokkr-2 and since renamed Odin to perform a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid and capture high-resolution images.
AstroForge took longer than expected to identify Brokkr-1 among the more than 50 satellites deployed on the Transporter-7 rideshare mission and to establish communications with it.
AstroForge deployed Brokkr-1’s solar arrays by September and activated the refinery payload in November.
Startup AstroForge plans to send two exploratory missions to an asteroid in late 2023 to test in-orbit refining of platinum.