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 launched a small satellite on Transporter-7 to test its ability to refine metals from asteroid materials in orbit.
The OrbAstro ORB-50 satellite platform has a mass class of 100 kg and will host an array of AstroForge payloads for asteroid assessment.
AstroForge will launch a cubesat into low Earth orbit in April 2023 to test its refinery technologies.
The first two AstroForge missions are funded by a $13,000,000 seed round raised in May 2022.
AstroForge estimates it will take about 11 months for Brokkr-2 to reach the target asteroid.
AstroForge schedules the Brokkr-2 launch for October 2023 while Intuitive Machines describes the launch as planned for the second half of 2023.
AstroForge will launch its first two missions in 2023.
AstroForge Inc. signed a contract with Orbital Astronautics Ltd. to fly a 100 kg class spacecraft into deep space for an asteroid survey mission.
The AstroForge spacecraft is scheduled to launch in late 2023 with Intuitive Machines on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The OrbAstro ORB-50 satellite platform will host an array of AstroForge payloads associated with assessing asteroids.
AstroForge plans a second mission as soon as the summer of 2023 to fly past an asteroid to test its spacecraft and instruments and identify potential mining targets.
AstroForge’s first mission, planned for launch in early 2023, will place a six-unit cubesat developed by British company OrbAstro into orbit on a SpaceX rideshare mission.
AstroForge raised a $13,000,000 seed-plus round on 2022-05-26 led by Initialized Capital with investments from Seven Seven Six, EarthRise, Aera VC, Liquid 2, and Soma.