An asteroid mining company, Astroforge, has just had its ambitions to exploit the first asteroid by the end of the decade, driven by a new round of funding.
Startup Y Combinator closed a $ 13 million seed round, according to TechCrunch, and the money will help it achieve its first two key goals, including a demonstration flight aboard a shared SpaceX Falcon mission 9 next year.
The space mining startup has a shared travel contract with SpaceX
Astroforge co-founders Gialich and Jose Acain say they have developed a new method for refining materials in space, although they have not yet revealed much specific details. All we know so far is that their technology requires a high-score vacuum and only works in zero gravity. The company will target smaller asteroids, between 20 meters and 1.5 km in diameter, that will probably not have a gravitational field, meaning they will not land on any space rock.
The California-based startup has already signed a partnership with OrbAstro to develop the first satellite for its demonstration mission. He also has an agreement with SpaceX for a spot on an upcoming shared travel mission, which is expected to be launched sometime next year. This mission aims to demonstrate that the refining of minerals in space is possible through the company’s technology.
The then-round was led by Initialized Capital, which focused on the large potential gains from future space mining operations: It has been estimated that an asteroid, a target of NASA’s Psyche mission, contains rare metals for worth $ 700 million.
Will Astroforge succeed where others have failed?
Astroforge will target asteroids with high concentrations of the six metals in the platinum group, including platinum and iridium. It aims to send small payloads into space, weighing less than 200 kilograms, to allow it to embark on more affordable shared travel missions.
The company currently has four full-time employees and is looking to hire seven more. Its two founders, Acain and Gialich, are experienced space industry veterans working for SpaceX, NASA and Virgin Orbit. However, breaking up space mining is a difficult task and other big names have tried and failed to get their space mining companies off the ground, i.e. planetary resources and deep space industries backed by Larry Page.
While space mining is a high-risk investment that will take a long time to pay off, the market is expected to grow to $ 4.2 billion by the end of the decade. Astroforge and other companies will be keeping an eye on the results of NASA’s Psyche mission, which aims to determine the true composition of asteroid 16 Psyche by 2026. These results could pave the way for more companies to join the race to become the first successful space miners.