Asteroid mining sounds like something the Weyland-Yutani Corp. would try before everyone on board was implanted with a chestburster.
Yet AstroForge, an asteroid mining startup, just raised $40m, bringing its total funding haul to $55m, per Gizmodo.
It’s no unicorn, but it shows an investment in the possibility that asteroids could yield a lucrative supply of resources.
What kind of resources?
Precious metals, such as platinum, gold, and silver.
- Asteroids rich in platinum may contain up to 100 grams per ton, or 10x-20x more than South African platinum mines.
- The asteroid 16 Psyche reportedly contains $700 quintillion worth of gold — enough for everyone on Earth to get ~$93B.
They also contain water, which can be turned into rocket fuel.
Plus, mining in space could reduce the industry’s reliance on Earth and its associated problems.
How feasible is this?
While there’s no shortage of metal-rich, near-Earth asteroids, it’s both complicated and expensive to get a spacecraft to an asteroid, let alone mine one at scale.
Other companies have tried, including Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, which launched in 2012 and 2013, respectively. While they managed to design satellites and identify possible mining opportunities, neither could secure enough funding.
NASA and Japan’s Hayabus2 have both successfully captured small amounts of rock and dust from asteroids, and NASA sent a spacecraft to study Psyche last year, though it won’t reach the asteroid’s orbit until 2029.
AstroForge itself struggled with technical issues during a demo launch in December, but has two more planned for 2024 and 2025.
The 2025 mission is the most interesting: If successful, its probe would be the first commercial spacecraft to dock with an asteroid.
